The War of Three Colours
by 14sleepyhead09
Summary: Sequel to 'The Journey of a Lifetime'. White Deer Park was at peace, and seeing one of its most wonderful springs yet… But nothing lasts forever… War has come to White Deer Park, as two old enemies have joined forces; the Grey and Blue Foxes have returned, their leaders seeking to control the park, by any means necessary. No one is innocent… No one is free… And no one, is safe…
1. Prologue

Ok, sequel time! I will have to say though that this story will not be uploaded as quickly as my last story, writing of course takes time and real life stuff has to come first, so I will upload when I can.

So here we go...

The prologue here however is exactly the same as Epilogue 2 from my last story, so you can skip it... if you want. Otherwise, read on, and enjoy! :)

* * *

'The Animals of Farthing Wood' (C) Colin Dann & BBC

 **' _The War of Three Colours_ '**

* * *

Prologue

 **' _The Enemy of my Enemy_ '**

A long way away from White Deer Park, a grey fox lay... dead. It was Caesar. An honourable self sacrifice for the safety of his kin from a pack of vicious wolves... some of which he had taken with him to the grave.

Little known to the lifeless old grey fox and his kin, this attack was all masterminded by his son, Tyran, who had finally instigated his plan to usurp him. Now Tyran had taken his rightful place as leader of the grey foxes... and he ruled unopposed, and those that did defy him... met a swift and brutal end at the claws and teeth of his new 'bodyguard'.

Tyran's intention now was to mobilise his troop to his cause... and they would soon march on White Deer Park on his quest for vengeance. However on their travels the grey fox troop had encountered a certain clan of blue foxes... and it was then that Tyran learned of the old feud between the red and blue foxes of White Deer Park. As he led the troop back to the Nature Reserve, he intentionally ran into the blue foxes again... this time with a purpose...

It was a dark and dull night over some wild woodland. The sky was dominated with sinister grey clouds, with only a few small sections through which a bright full moon shone streaks of silver light. There was also one solitary single lane road cutting through the wood which provided several specks of artificial orange through the dense greenery of the trees and shrubs.

Strolling as if he owned the place, Tyran walked alone, towards a rocky depression in the ground where he knew the blue foxes resided. His presence hadn't gone unnoticed, he had been stalked for a while... but he knew this already and continued unwavering. Tyran had no intention for hostility against the blue foxes and he was sure he would be successful in his current mission... after all; Tyran could be very... persuasive.

The trees fell short closer to the mini quarry and only small shrubs and thin grass grew across the bare stone amongst the protruding and cantilevering rocks and boulders. When Tyran reached it, his stalker revealed himself as did several of the blue foxes. They moved like shadows... their dark blue fur a hue of the surrounding night-time. Tyran was impressed, and he stopped. He stood with fortitude, and a straight face that showed no emotion.

"You are trespassing on our territory," one blue fox called to him and then jumped from a high ledge and strolled over, "I suggest you leave... before you get hurt,"

It was Blaze... the last son of Scarface (with the exception of Ranger). Even in the darkness the opposing fox's navy blue fur was prominent enough. He bared an uncanny resemblance to his father, minus the scar and maimed right eye.

Tyran briefly examined him... clearly this one was the leader, and he wasted no time to incite his current opposition; "I have a grudge against one of the red foxes of the Nature Reserve called White Deer park... I understand you too have a feud with the same foxes?"

"Had... a feud... one that ended long ago with the death of my father," Blaze retorted. He remembered the feud quite well, despite how long ago it was.

"And don't you think your father should be avenged?" Tyran coaxed coldly.

Blaze scowled at him silently. He did long think about that... but he was determined not to make the same mistakes as his sire.

"Just say what it is you want... and get out of my sight," Blaze snapped.

"Really now?" Tyran raised his head in insult, "Is that how you treat a guest?"

"An uninvited one yes... now speak," Blaze replied coldly.

Tyran paused for a moment before speaking clearly, "Have you ever heard an old human proverb: _The enemy of my enemy is my friend_?"

"No."

"Well... we have the same enemy," Tyran stated unemotionally, and then revealed his scheme, "I'd like to propose an alliance,"

"An alliance?"

"Yes... to finish off those deplorable red foxes of White Deer Park once and for all," Tyran said with malice in his voice.

"I have no intention to reigniting a quarrel that ended years ago," Blaze replied emotionlessly.

"Then don't think of it like that... think of it as taking back what is rightfully yours... your old territory... that was taken from you," Tyran coaxed strongly, finishing with a cunning smile.

Those words resonated in Blaze's mind. They hadn't been forced out, but even so... he couldn't deny that Tyran was right, White Deer Park was _their_ land. However Blaze was reluctant to decide on marching on the park to take it over from the Farthing Foxes... he knew his brother and cousin was among them. Many of the other blue foxes considered Ranger and Russet as traitors who had abandoned the clan for their own personal gains.

He remembered how his mother, Lady Blue, had died during the winter... old and heartbroken she didn't want to go on. She had wished to see Ranger once more, but that was not to come true; she didn't hate him for his life decisions, she was proud. But before passing, she had still cursed the Farthing Fox for all the misfortunes that had befallen her.

This was what persuaded Blaze more than Tyran's words, he knew this grey fox stood before him was only trying to persuade him to join his conquest, yet... now he had the opportunity and the motive... even if it meant fighting, and if necessary, killing his own brother. He looked back around at some other of the blue foxes who were in attendance; the majority of them were giving him a look of approval; only the younger generation looked on innocently.

Tyran could tell his words had cut deeply... igniting a hidden rage within the blue fox stood before him. With the might of the grey and blue foxes together... there would be nothing that stood in his way...

"So... what do you say?" Tyran asked again, "Do we have an accord?"

Blaze had made up his mind, and turned back to look at the grey fox. He spoke resolutely, with a cunning smile;

"Very well... I'm listening..."


	2. Chapter 1

**Act 1**

Chapter 1

 **' _The Glorious Springtime'_**

White Deer Park was currently seeing one if it's most bright and blissful springs yet. The sun shone from high in the sky casting its omnipotent light across the earth, and down upon the animals of the Nature Reserve as they went about their daily business.

As well as the arrivals of the newborns of the spring, the park had seen a migration of animals to join its residents, attracted to the prospect of living in safety from humans and under the care of the Warden, and the current leader of the White Deer herd; Laird, the Great Stag. Also inspired by the recurring legend of 'The Animals of Farthing Wood' and now too, the story of The Plucky Fox and his companions, and their 'Journey of a Lifetime'.

The legend had now in fact reached human ears, and because of the interest it caused, White Deer Park had seen a significant investment from private companies interested in the observation, examination and preservation of wildlife. During the spring, the park had been partially expanded again, the fence quality improved, and a network of wireless cameras had been installed throughout, hidden in amongst the trees and shrubs.

The animals of White Deer Park were completely oblivious to this, and continued to live their lives day by day. Among them were the Animals of Farthing Wood, and their many descendants. Still living in the same corner of the Nature Reserve where they had settled over four years ago, in the same spirit of The Oath of Mutual Protection that they were accustom to, now under the leadership of the Farthing Fox's eldest grandson.

After his adventure away from the park, Plucky was becoming almost just as famous as his grandfather, but Fox was still regarded as the living legend of The Farthing Wood Fox like he always had been, and Plucky still couldn't escape that shadow.

But Plucky really couldn't care less. His life was perfect right now; living with the beautiful vixen he loved; Scarlet, and with her, had been blessed with four healthy, and inquisitive... and very energetic little fox cubs. Bold, Valiant, Rosa and Diamond had grown considerably since their initial introduction to the real world. Now they were learning to hunt and allowed to explore and play, while under the watchful eyes of (at least one of) their parents or their many friends.

Although a rift had formed between Bold and Rosa, as most of the time the two young prodigies were in competition to see who was better at... anything. They often had heated arguments, and sometimes even fought each other, leaving Valiant and Diamond to break it up when their parents weren't around. Diamond tried to mediate the two of them, often as she did as the carefree personality she had developed, while Valiant just tolerated it. He was often jealous of Bold and Rosa being better at everything than him which often made him generally detached from the family.

On this particular spring day the young cubs were in the hollow outside their earth, where Scarlet was giving them a hunting lesson. Plucky was elsewhere, running errands, both for his family and everyone else as the leader had too. Scarlet had scavenged a pinecone from the woods to use as 'prey' and was letting the cubs take turns at pouncing at it. Right now Bold was trying impetuously to hunt the pinecone, though was more obsessed with playing with it, batting it around with his paws. Meanwhile, Valiant and Diamond watched amusingly, and Rosa made her own fun, attempting to pounce on a butterfly that was fluttering around the glade. Scarlet wasn't a strict mother, in fact she loved watching her cubs play, but they had to be focussed to learn hunting, so she soon stepped in. She took the pinecone away from Bold, and called Rosa back.

"Ok, now watch me do it..." Scarlet said to her cubs as they watched. She put the pinecone firmly in her sights and pounced, catching it with perfect precision; "See... put your pounce all in your back legs and strike with your front paws,"

Bold took his stance and pounced again, falling short of the pinecone... again. He huffed in frustration.

"Ok Bold, take a break," Scarlet said innocently, "Rosa your turn-"

"I can do it!" Bold shouted defiantly.

"In a billion years maybe," Rosa mocked.

"Shut up Rosa!"

"Bold don't be rude," Scarlet chided.

"She started it!"

"Did not!" Rosa argued.

"I don't care who started it, both of you stop it now," Scarlet chided again, then changed to encouragement, "Go on Rosa,"

Rosa took her stance to pounce, and a quick calculated second after, made her strike, catching the pinecone with the same perfect precision as her mother.

"Show off..." Bold muttered under his breath, out of everyone's earshot.

"Very good Rosa," Scarlet praised.

"That's my girl," said a loud and proud male voice, causing them all to look in the direction of its origin.

It was Plucky, arriving home after his daily jobs. He had actually been there for a few moments and was sat down admiring his family with happiness and pride from the edge of the clearing.

"Dad!" Diamond shouted joyfully, running over to her father and leaping up to hug him.

Plucky fell over backwards when Diamond leapt at him, and nuzzled into the fur on his chest. Bold, Rosa and Valiant joined in as all the cubs went to playfully greet their father, leaping and tumbling at him, giggling. Scarlet shook her head and chuckled before casually walking over and with the first chance they got, she and Plucky nuzzled each other affectionately.

"So what are you mischievous little lot up to today?" Plucky asked his cubs cheerily.

"Mom's teaching us how to hunt," Valiant answered first.

"Trying to teach... you little ones keep getting distracted too easily," Scarlet chuckled.

"Oh dear..." Plucky shook his head, "do I need to keep you lot in line?" he said in a fatherly tone, "Because you know it's very important learning to hunt-"

"We know Dad, but we just want to go and play-" Diamond moaned.

"Or go exploring!" Bold added on.

"And you can do that once your lesson is finished," Scarlet said encouragingly.

She was about to muster the four cubs to continue her lesson, but suddenly, the family conversation was interrupted, by two speeding leverets entering the glade. One was in front of the other and stopped when reaching the centre, only for the one behind to run into it. There was a brief playful scuffle until the fox family heard a very familiar voice.

"Hasty! Chipper!" Dash shouted. She and Bolt came running into the clearing after their son and daughter. "Don't go running off like that without telling us first will you!" Dash chided motherly.

"Sorry Mom," Chipper apologised, while Hasty nodded.

Dash and Bolt's little family seemingly popped out of nowhere to the Farthing Wood animals. They had kept Hasty and Chipper a surprise secret for everyone until the two young leverets could venture out with their parents. After first introductions the leverets and the fox cubs had become friends and they often played together when the opportunity came.

After briefly scolding her little hares Dash turned her attention to the family of foxes watching them.

"Hi Plucky, Scarlet and ... ooo you cubs have grown up fast!"

"They do don't they-" Scarlet said proudly.

"Mom, Dad, can we go off and play now?" Diamond asked her parents excitedly.

"Go on, but stay in the glade, I don't want you going too far," Plucky answered.

The fox cubs and leverets took off to go and play, happily frolicking and giggling around the glade. Scarlet gave Plucky a look of derision after pretty much forcing an end to her hunting lesson.

"They're not going to learn much more today," Plucky explained after seeing Scarlet's look.

Scarlet looked over to the playing young ones, "I suppose you're right," she conceded immediately. The vixen then turned her attention to Dash and Bolt.

"So Dash, Bolt... how is parenthood treating you?" she asked.

"Tiring to say the least, those two little leverets are barely a couple of months old and they're already faster than us!" Bolt answered.

"I can imagine... try getting four energetic little fox cubs to go to sleep," Plucky chuckled.

"Oh trust me; we know how difficult it is to get young ones to sleep!" Dash said.

"At least you don't have to teach them how to hunt," Scarlet pointed out cheerfully.

"Ok, you got us there," Dash conceded heartily, "Still…" she yawned, "I'm absolutely exhausted… it wouldn't be wrong of me to grab a nap while they're off playing now would it?"

"Actually would it?" Scarlet asked Plucky, "I could really do with one of those too,"

"Sure… you two ladies get some sleep," Bolt answered, "Me and Plucky will keep an eye on the little ones,"

With that permission, Scarlet and Dash went back over to the entrance of Plucky's earth to catch up on some sleep. Plucky and Bolt stayed sitting where they were, watching the young ones at play.

"Poor girls… they've both been working so hard," Plucky remarked to the male hare.

"Hmm," Bolt agreed, "Though fatherhood is no easy walk either,"

"Oh… most definitely, though it's certainly rewarding," Plucky smiled proudly.

"I am glad that our young get along well with each other too," Bolt commented as he and Plucky watched the cubs and leverets playing what seemed to be an amusing game of tig and tag.

"Hey… it runs in the family," Plucky reminded him.

"Ha-ha! … Yes indeed it does," Bolt laughed in reply.

* * *

Elsewhere in Farthing Land, Fox and Vixen were once again lying outside their earth underneath the warm spring sun. They were elderly foxes now; they were now great-grandparents. Fox's original all orange fur was darkening in patches to a dusky brown, and in others it had begun turning grey. Vixen's fur too was darkening and greying like her mate's, though somewhat with more grace.

They weren't in the clearing alone though; the hollow outside Fox and Vixen's earth was still the usual 'happening' spot in Farthing Land, despite Fox and Vixen's wishes that the spot would move outside Plucky's earth... but that tradition couldn't be broken. The two old foxes still enjoyed the company of old friends and new, and new family, whether it was theirs or their friends. They especially enjoyed the times of reminiscence about the fateful journey that brought them to this new home, and those lost along the way and even when they arrived here. There weren't that many of them left now, the original 'Animals of Farthing Wood'. There was Fox and Vixen of course, Owl, Toad, Whistler... and Weasel, who, despite in old age herself, still remained loud and (mostly) annoying.

Lying in the glade and basking in the sun, Vixen lifted her head, taking in a long deep inhale of the cool fresh spring air.

"It's such a lovely spring," she said.

"Indeed... and one I thought I might not live to see," Fox harmlessly commented.

"Oh really Fox..." Owl's voice suddenly blurted down from the tree branches above them (Hollow was dosing next to her), "… your pessimism is only getting worse with age... Vixen, tell him off!"

"I do," She quickly summarised to the bird.

"I'm not that bad," Fox said, with the unintentional hint of a moan.

"You are though, I mean, well… not all the time, but… you can be," Vixen, again, gave a fair summary.

Fox looked at his mate as she gave him a loving look, with just a hint of judgement. Fox could quite remember how bad his pessimism could be, particularly back during the rat invasion… but that was over a year ago now, and at the present, Fox had no reason to feel melancholy. He then quickly decided in that moment to have a bit of fun, proving that he wasn't just a gloomy old fox that was past his prime. Quite randomly, he rolled over on his back closer to Vixen, much to her surprise, and whispered in her ear;

"Catch me if you can…"

Fox then got up with an unexpected burst of speed almost all the way to the far side of the clearing.

"What are you doing?" Vixen asked heartily with a slight chuckle.

"Well I'm sure a pessimistic old fox and his mate wouldn't go for random games of chase now would they?" Fox replied cheerily.

Vixen wore a mixed expression of confusion and amusement; "Fox… we're both not as young as we once were…"

"Hmm… now who's the pessimist?" Fox said sarcastically yet jokily.

"Actually that was realism," Vixen happily remarked, causing Fox to roll his eyes. She then stood up herself and strolled slowly over to him; "But ok, I'll join in… just one thing first…"

"What?" Fox asked, as Vixen made a slow and flirty walk around him… before playfully biting Fox's tail.

"Ah…" Fox let out and turned to face her… to then see his mate laughing and running away into the woods.

"You're the one who's got to catch me!" She shouted back.

Fox lightly chuckled, and accepted the challenge, and took off after Vixen. As both the elderly foxes darted away with such energy that matched a couple of young fox cubs going out to play, Owl just stared blankly at the area she lost sight of them in bewilderment.

"Honestly... foxes... I don't believe I'll ever understand them," Owl openly expressed, thinking Hollow was listening to her. As it turns out he'd fallen asleep; "Hollow? ... Hollow!"

"Hmm what... what?"

"Do you understand foxes?"

"Oh, not at all dear, confusing creatures they are, never understood them," Hollow agreed, before falling back to sleep.

"Ah... logic," Owl cheerily summarised, then joined her mate in slumber.

* * *

As the day went on the animals of White Deer Park went about their day. For some though, the day just meant time to relax and enjoy the blissful spring. Ranger and Charmer were two of the individuals who did this. The two of them had gone out together to enjoy the sun in one of the many meadows of White Deer Park. They lay on their backs next to each other on the luscious green grass of the meadow enjoying the warm sunshine. Ranger though soon turned his gaze to look at Charmer. He stared at her, admiring her beauty and like her namesake, her charm. They had been together so long now, had raised a family together and yet they still shared that glowing spark of love that was ignited back when they were cubs themselves.

"Something caught your interest?" Charmer asked soothingly as she noticed Ranger's loving gaze.

"Am I not allowed to just stare at you?" Ranger smiled.

Charmer returned the smile; "Of course you are," she said as she rolled over to her front and nuzzled her mate. Charmer sighed happily as she and Ranger cuddled each other; "Life couldn't be better... the cubs are grown up and moved out... now we finally have some time to ourselves again,"

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," Ranger replied calmly.

"I love you Ranger," Charmer whispered.

"I love you Charmer, and I always will," Ranger replied tenderly as the long time couple continued to cuddle together in the meadow under the warm spring sun.

* * *

Ranger and Charmer weren't the only couple revelling in the newfound privacy after raising a family. Friendly and Russet too spent all their available time together. Most of their time they spent doing their favourite activity: hunting, meaning that they were mostly active during the night. Friendly and Russet were both exceptional hunters and ever since their first meeting with one another they created a competitive game simply called: 'Who's the Better Hunter?' They played it every time they went hunting together... and this particular cool and clear spring night was no exception. After catching a sufficient meal (for the next night as well) they returned to their usual spot, a small secluded dell of the woods, to compare their catch.

"Beat that Friendly! ... Two voles, a mouse and a squirrel," Russet boasted.

"That it? Try three voles, two mice and a rabbit," Friendly smirked.

Russet's smile disappeared when she knew she had been beaten; "Hmmm, guess I had a slow day then..." she muttered.

"Ah! Hunter's excuses!" Friendly laughed cheekily.

"Ha! ... I'm still the better hunter and you know it!" Russet replied smugly.

"Oh yea?" Friendly said mischievously.

He then playfully leaped at Russet, pushing her backwards. Russet playfully pushed back and the couple rolled over on the grass until Friendly had her lightly pinned on her back on the ground, their eyes locked on the other.

"Looks like I just caught a beautiful vixen," Friendly said soothingly.

Russet smiled widely as she stared into Friendly's eyes; "You already caught her a long time ago," she replied tenderly.

The red fox and the blue vixen nuzzled each other passionately in the glade, under the glittering stars of the night's sky.

* * *

The next day, Plucky and Scarlet were abruptly woken by their cubs already playing about inside their earth. They had clearly got a good night sleep, therefore, were fuelled up with energy for a day of learning and playing.

The two parents decided to leave the teaching for the day though… upon seeing the beautiful weather outside it was much too nice for schooling, the four young cubs had plenty of time to learn how to hunt.

Plucky and Scarlet decided to take the cubs for a day outing, having not ventured much further than the glade outside their earth, it would be something new to them. They decided to go to the pond; Plucky led the way, Rosa walking eagerly alongside him, at times having to pad along faster to keep up with her father. Bold and Valiant were next in line, doing some sort of play fighting while on the move, and Diamond followed, watching them and also becoming enticed by the surroundings, which Scarlet, travelling at the back, often had to force her daughters attention back to travelling in front of her.

Along the way, Plucky decided to bypass Dash and Bolt's hollow to invite them and their leverets to the pond too. As it turns out the hares were all outside, frolicking in between the shrubs and plants of their overgrown thicket. They happily accepted Plucky's invitation and they all travelled to the pond together.

It was a glorious sunny day; the sun was an omnipotent orb of light that shined brightly across the landscape, with not but a few clouds to shade the ground from its heavenly gaze. Trees and blades of grass wafted softly as the cool wind blew through the canopy and along the ground, the light from the sun, twinkling through the rustled leaves. Although it was becoming hotter as the time of year grew ever so closer to summer, the park was still full of life and activity. Groups of songbirds whistled in chorus among the treetops, and it certainly wasn't uncommon to see a group of fieldmice, voles or shrews scurrying amongst the undergrowth.

Upon arrival at the pond, the young ones soon became excited to run about, play and explore, but not before their parents set out some rules. Rules which included to not go too far away from them, not to cause any mischief to others and probably most importantly (as the young didn't know how to swim yet) to stay out of the water. After that though Plucky, Scarlet, Dash and Bolt let their offspring go off and play to their hearts content.

The pond was the usual happening spot for the majority of the old park and Farthing Land; therefore it was typically a buzz with activity and sociability, particularly during the spring. When the two families arrived, there were several familiar faces already there.

Whistler and Speedy were always by the pond, being herons they preferred to be by the water, as were (despite their fairly dysfunctional relationship) the brood of now adult herons they had together.

To Plucky's surprise, Whisper was actually there. He knew quite well that his mother had more or less reverted to the life of a fully nocturnal fox, despite the times she would visit or watch over the cubs. Plucky went to greet her, but decided not to when realising she was asleep in her nicely shaded spot underneath the shrubbery of a hawthorn bush.

Some of the ever-growing-larger rabbit family was there, as well as the badgers, Shadow and Hurkle, and the weasel family were too. Cleo and Fido were a couple of the Park's inhabitants that everyone believed would never grow up… nor would the two very familiar looking squirrels that were frolicking in the canopy of a willow tree that overhung the water.

Woody and Jester never seemed to be short of ways to entertain themselves and today clearly was no exception; they were jumping into the pond using the willow tree as a diving platform. It was certainly entertaining to watch, but was short lived, as when the two squirrels saw their old friends, they immediately came over to greet them… though they were still dripping wet.

"Hi guys… long time no see!" Jester said merrily to the fox and hare couple.

"Woody, Jester how have you two rascals been?" Plucky greeted the pair.

"Oh, out and about and such, keeping busy-" Woody answered.

"-Causing some mischief-" Jester interrupted.

"You know… the usual," Woody continued.

"What nothing interesting? What happened with your two lady friends?" Dash asked.

"Oh… that unfortunately crashed and burned," Woody explained.

"Yea… they said we were too…" Jester turned to his brother, "What was it they called us again?"

"Immature…" Woody answered

"Yea… that," Jester continued, "You guys don't think we're immature do you?"

"They're joking with this right?" Scarlet quietly remarked to Plucky, making him chuckle.

"No not at all… you two are not immature at all," Bolt told the two squirrels.

"Bolt… we know what your sarcasm is like…" Woody said derogatively.

"What? Did you two want an honest answer?" Bolt joked, after which he, Dash, Plucky and Scarlet all openly laughed.

"Whatever… plenty more squirrels in the treetops," Jester remarked happily to Woody, the two squirrels then making a fist bump.

"What about Perry? I haven't seen him around… like… at all," Woody mentioned.

"Perry… he's out and about all the time, I think he's currently on one of his weeklong excursions away from the park," Plucky answered.

"This place might be huge, but for a bird like him… unfortunately it's just too small," Scarlet stated.

"I hope he is alright though, I do miss him not being around as often," Dash said.

"He can look after himself well enough, and he always drops by when he comes back," Bolt explained, "Plus, he's a bird of prey; nothing bad is going to happen to him,"

They all silently agreed Bolt was right, Perry was certainly capable of looking after himself, but it was still not the same without him there. Woody was quick to change the subject;

"So what about you guys then?" he asked the two hares and two foxes, "Being parents and all I imagine you're pretty busy,"

"Very…" Scarlet yawned, "Its keeping them busy that's keeping us busy though,"

"And when we don't keep them busy they're definitely not short of things to do, they either play fight, explore or practice their hunting," Plucky continued.

"Or in the case of our young, they like racing each other," Dash added on, then turned to Plucky "Which reminds me, _we_ haven't actually raced in ages,"

"We haven't exactly had the time though to be fair… plus with me on this gimpy leg really means its set and matched for you to win," Plucky pointed out, referring to his still quite noticeable scar on his leg.

"Not that that's any different from normal," Dash boasted.

"Oh… ha-ha," Plucky laughed sarcastically.

"Well, Plucky, that leg hasn't been giving you any problems recently," Scarlet remarked.

"You know what you should do, have one last race and it be winner takes all," Jester suggested.

There was a moment of silence when Plucky and Dash looked to one another contemplating Jester's idea.

"If that's the case we have to make it an epic race…" Plucky stated.

He and Dash suddenly got quite excited by this; Dash had immediately began planning the route;

"Right! … How about… From here at the pond, to through the woods, along the stream-"

"-Up to the stone circle then down the hill side to the downlands-" Plucky added.

"-Across the downlands, back through the woods going round the giant gorse bush, and back here-"

"-To jump in the pond and cool off…" Plucky summarised.

"Sounds good… so when do we start?" Dash asked preparedly.

Plucky and Dash looked at each other… their eyes narrowed as the two competitors examined the other, and then, unexpectedly, Plucky shouted:

"Now!" and took off at a sprint.

"Hey! Not fair!" Dash shouted back and sprinted in pursuit of the fox, both of them quickly disappearing through the first stage of the woods.

"Go Dad!" Plucky's cubs shouted.

"Go Mom!" Dash's leverets shouted too.

"You really think this was a good idea?" Scarlet remarked to Bolt.

"Eh… I dunno, just let them get on with it," he chuckled.

The fox and the hare zoomed through the wood, Plucky making huge leaps and bounds over roots and logs… he wasn't going to trip and lose this one. Dash sprinted amongst the ferns determined to catch Plucky up… he may have had a head start but she'd catch up to him, she always did.

Plucky reached the stream and made an immediate turn to follow it up to the hill that lead to the stone circle… and suddenly Dash appeared out of nowhere…

"Oh! And she takes him on the inside!" Dash boasted as she ran on past him, kicking up dust.

"Ah come on! You cut the corner!" Plucky shouted back.

Dash now had the lead as they followed the small torrent of water, quickly passing some familiar faces…

"Hi Toad, Mossy, Spike…" Dash said to them as she ran past, surprising the three of them.

"Sorry guys, can't stop!" Plucky said as he ran past after almost knocking them over.

"Hey, careful there matey's!" Toad bellowed merrily.

"Go both of you!" Mossy called after them, unable to decide who to root for.

The fox and the hare continued their race, now turning away from the stream and racing up the hill to the stone circle. The white deer herd were currently grazing on the hill, and quickly became spectators to the fox and the hare's epic race… it was quite entertaining particularly for the young calves.

They passed the stone circle, weaving through the giant pale grey rocks, then crossed the crest of the hill, gravity now fuelling Plucky's run… he was now right behind the speeding hare, then came up alongside her. They quickly made a cocky smiled glance at each other and both simultaneously increased their sprint.

As they now raced towards and then across the downlands, they were both in a full on sprint. The surroundings began to blur past them the faster they went… both only looked forward. Dash began to pull away from Plucky, but she had misjudged the turn back to the woods, and overshot. Plucky then took the lead as they now headed towards the giant gorse bush, but because he'd slowed down, Dash was right behind him again.

The race now turned back through the woods and back to Farthing Land. The fox and the hare again had to weave through the trees, bushes and ferns of the forest floor, limiting the speed they could get up to. Because they were back on Farthing Land they both kept running past (and sometimes almost bumping into) friends and family, who made clear who they supported.

The two sprinters bypassed one of the rabbit's burrows, who all made clear when seeing them, they were supporting the hare.

"Go on Dash!" the rabbits cheered.

Still moving at full pelt, Plucky and Dash suddenly passed by Friendly and Russet's earth, where Ranger and Charmer were visiting.

"They're at it again," Ranger commented, as they ran past, unintentionally sounding disapproving.

"Just because their parents now, doesn't mean they aren't allowed to have fun," Charmer said calmly.

"Of course not… Go on Plucky!" Friendly suddenly shouted.

"I've actually kind of missed seeing their races," Russet added on, "Go Plucky!"

The race continued and suddenly the fox and the hare teared through the glade where Fox and Vixen's earth was, who both were lounging out in the open.

"Was that Plucky and Dash?" Vixen asked Fox after seeing… something, run past them.

"I don't know…" Fox said bewilderedly, "honestly all I saw was a flash of red and brown…" Fox said, causing Vixen to laugh.

Now far beyond the glade, Plucky was about the reach the giant gorse bush that marked the last stage, but he was going so fast into his turn he slipped through the dirt as he followed around the thorny shrub. His fall gave Dash her chance and she took the lead again… for about a second when she too was going so fast she slipped through the dirt. Both competitors synchronously rose from the ground and began speeding again… it was anyone's race.

It was now a strait shot through the rest of the woods to the pond where the finish line was. Both Plucky and Dash were tiring and panting heavily from the run, but still neither relented their pace… both of them were determined to win.

The pond then came into view, and quite an audience had gathered since the race had started.

"Here they come!" Woody shouted down from the tree top.

"They're neck and neck!" Jester added.

The tension grew for the crowd and the cheering became louder as the fox and the hare grew closer and closer to the finish line… they really were neck and neck and nobody knew who was going to take the victory.

But when it came to straight sprints, Dash had the advantage… same acceleration but smaller and lighter… she began to pull ahead. Plucky was using all his running ability to try and chase her down, but suddenly… not but ten metres from the finish, Dash tripped over her own leg and tumbled right in front of Plucky.

There was no chance to go round her and Plucky tripped over Dash, and like her, tumbled head over tail. They had so much momentum they both kept rolling in a ball, past their spectators, the finish and eventually burst straight through the reeds at the edge of the pond and made an almighty splash into the water.

Scarlet and Bolt rushed to the bank of the pond with concern for their mates, though thankfully Plucky and Dash had already emerged from the water and were swimming to the edge.

"Are you two ok?!" Scarlet loudly asked once they were both out the pond.

"Huh?" Dash (sort of) answered as she tipped her head to the side to get some water out her ear.

Suddenly they all got splashed as Plucky shook himself mostly dry and then he and Dash both collapsed with a little huff of exhaustion.

"Just err… give us a few minutes," Plucky wheezed out.

Scarlet and Bolt obliged and left to go keep an eye on their young, leaving Plucky and Dash lying on the bank of the pond panting heavily from their epic race, their fall, and the subsequent dip into the pond.

"Ok… that's the last one ever," Plucky panted.

"Agreed…" Dash began, also out of breath, "and in a way I'll be glad to call it a draw,"

"If by draw you mean I win, then yea, sure…" Plucky chuckled.

"Ha… no, you mean I win," Dash protested jokily.

The two best friends looked to one another intently.

"Let's just agree… to disagree," Plucky said, with a loving smile.

Dash returned the tender smile and soon replied with;

"Agreed,"

They both knew, without saying it, that this was the best option. It wouldn't mean as much if one of them took the victory, they were both as fast as each other, and it was better to leave it at that. However, something else was on Dash's mind, wondering if this last race was the end of an era for the two of them. She soon voiced her concern.

"But err… This last race doesn't mean we won't see each other as much though does it?"

"Are you kidding me?" Plucky almost sounded insulted, "Of course not! … We're still friends… no matter what… in fact Dash… I'd go so far as to say you're more like family to me,"

This truly warmed Dash's heart to hear that Plucky felt the same way when it came to their friendship. She arose from the ground and came over to give the fox an affectionate nuzzle that Plucky lovingly accepted.

They were then interrupted, fairly pleasantly by the noise beyond the wall of reeds that was giving them their privacy. It was a culmination of giggling and the pitter-patter of small paws along the ground.

Plucky and Dash decided to return from behind the reeds and came to witness their own young now running back and forth between the pond and the nearby trees.

"Look what you two started now!" Bolt exclaimed merrily upon seeing the fox and the hare emerge, "Now all our youngsters are racing!"

Plucky and Dash immediately laughed with joyous smiles on their faces. _They_ might have just had their last ever race… but their young had surely just had their first.

Dash returned next to Bolt where they shared a loving nuzzle. Dash still wore the golden bracelet around her neck that he had given to her a long time ago back in the city. It currently glimmered in the daylight after it too got wet in the pond. It was never heavy, but it still as ever (not that it was necessary) acted as a token of their love for each other.

Plucky returned next to Scarlet, the two of them sharing an intimate nuzzle. Just that was enough to send flutters through their hearts. Scarlet leaned on Plucky, he taking the chance to groom the back of her ears… one of the places she could never reach, but always made her quiver. After all they'd been through together, all they'd done for each other… they didn't need any words to express their love.

The parents joyfully watched their offspring at play, with friends and family around them… under a blissfully bright warm sunshine, amongst which a cool breeze flowed… nothing could be better.

It truly was a glorious springtime…


	3. Chapter 2

Not sure whether some of the dialogue here should rated 'M' rather than 'T', but anyway... he's chapter 2 :)

* * *

Chapter 2

 **' _First Impressions, Second Impressions and Family Discussions_ '**

As was considered normal for a bird of prey, Perry was becoming a lot more independent from everyone else. As a bird he had explored the whole of White Deer Park within a couple of days, if even that. Because of this, he had begun travelling far and wide away from the park, sometimes for as long as a week or more. Perry liked White Deer Park. He liked living there. But it was just a little too small for a young adventurous falcon, and quite often it made him miss the long journey that brought him there; he had had a purpose then, a purpose which had more or less disappeared when he and his friends entered the Nature Reserve.

On this one particular expedition Perry had already been away for a good week and had travelled quite some distance. He recognised the land that he flew above. It was the wild open woodland and meadows with the acrid engine exhaust smell next to the airport; the same land he, Plucky, Scarlet, Dash, Bolt, Woody and Jester had crossed during their long journey to White Deer Park, and the same airport where Plucky had run down the runway to escape the grey foxes. The opposite direction he could see the wide river they had crossed. It brought back a bad memory to the falcon, as that had been where Scarlet's eldest brother bit through his wing; an injury, although healed, had still left a mark, physically and mentally.

The aeroplanes: the human's strange flying machines, were what dominated the sky around here, but Perry naturally stayed clear from them, though with curiosity he ventured closer to the airport. He wouldn't deny he was curious how those things flew; he was staggered how something so large, so loud and so, inelegant, could even fly… but he also wasn't fussed if he ever did or didn't find out.

He flew onwards. Soaring through the sky, Perry felt invincible... an apex predator of the sky with nothing to fear... so it was quite a shock to him when he was suddenly knocked out of the sky by what felt like another bird.

"AAargghh!" Perry let out with shock and frustration. The two birds fell through the sky in a scuffle. Perry got a good look at his attacker, realising it was another falcon.

"Calm down pigeon! I'm actually saving your life!" the bird replied commandingly. Perry then realised the opposing falcon was female, but he was more insulted to how he had been recognised as something not a falcon.

"Do I look like a pigeon to you!?" Perry scowled loudly, "Get the hell off me!"

As Perry struggled to be free of her, the female falcon soon realised her embarrassing blunder, but before both of them could disengage from each other they had fallen quite a distance through the sky... and crashed through one of the glass skylights to the airport terminal. They must have gone through with some speed. The glass shattered and fell to the floor causing a sizable crowd of humans to move away from it and the two falcons (left in a bit of a daze) instinctively fluttered around off each other before hitting the ground themselves. The next few moments went by in bit of a blur, as Perry was slightly concussed. He and the other falcon both composed themselves and flew off through the hole in the skylight they had just made, leaving the humans in a state of confusion and wonder… especially the airport security.

The two falcons flew through the air, eventually perching next to each other atop the airport control tower. They both looked over themselves, checking for any out of place feather or injury. Eventually deciding they were both fine, the inevitable conversation began.

"Urrgh... glass is hard..." Perry moaned, breaking the silence, with a slight pain still in his head.

"Really? I had no idea…" the female falcon replied sarcastically, obviously with the same pain.

"This sarcasm coming from the bird whose fault it was?"

The opposing falcon stared judgingly at Perry before sighing and looking away; "Ok, I guess it was my fault," the bird admitted guiltily. She then turned to look at Perry, "Hey, sorry for attacking you, I thought you were some other bir-"

"You need your eyes checked girl," Perry interrupted, a little harsher than he intended.

The female falcon was taken aback a bit; "Is that really the tone to take with someone bigger than you?"

Perry looked at the female, while she was bigger, she wasn't by much.

"Barely bigger than me," Perry stated sardonically, then turned his voice to an inaudible murmur so the other bird couldn't hear him; "At least I know the difference between a falcon and a pigeon..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing..." Perry looked innocently, "Why did you attack me anyway?"

"Oh, it's my job,"

"Job?"

"Yea… a job,"

"Your job… is to attack other birds?"

"Yea, I'm employed to take out or turn away any bird that gets too close to the runway,"

"Why?"

"To stop them getting hit by the planes, or worse, getting sucked into the engines," the female falcon shuddered slightly, "I've seen it happen...and it isn't pretty... body to pulp in half a second... not good for the planes either…"

Perry was in fact quite shocked by this, that some birds would actually be that stupid or oblivious; "Well surely it's just common sense..."

"Not as much as you might think..." the other falcon pointed out, "Plus those massive things can sometimes creep up on you without you noticing… they might be big and loud, but they are fast,"

"I'll say," Perry agreed, as he and the other falcon witnessed another plane take off from the runway.

The female falcon was then quick to change the subject, wanting to know more about her company; "What do you do then?"

"Oh..." Perry turned back to look at her, "I'm just, wild... I guess," He stated unemotionally.

"Just wild? ... You make it sound boring,"

"Well... it can be sometimes, but it wasn't always like that,"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing... it's a long story,"

"Well... I'd like to hear it," the female falcon smiled, but soon looked away, "Some other time though; I have to get back to my handler,"

"Oh ok..." Perry said almost sadly.

"Sorry, I never asked your name," the other falcon asked.

"It's Perry,"

"I'm Swift," Swift smiled, "See you around Perry… if your sticking around, I'll be sure not to attack you next time though!" She finished with a smile as Perry lightly chuckled at the comment.

Swift took off into the sky, with such a grace and elegance that made Perry stare at her in awe until she had disappeared from view. He was a little dumbfounded. Perry had never met another falcon; as far as he knew he was the only one that lived in White Deer Park, and after only, a fairly unimpressive, first impression, Perry knew he wanted to see Swift again.

As another plane took off from the ground, Perry watched it, not particularly caring, but impressed by mans technology. He felt strangely comfortable perched atop the airport control tower, and, despite the noise, enjoyed observing the surroundings. He decided he would stay around... at least until he would meet Swift again.

* * *

He definitely lives up to his name. Roamer was on another one of his explorations across White Deer Park, something which he did ever since he was a young cub, much to his parent's (Ranger and Charmer) dislike. But he was a grown fox now and it was his daily pastime to roam the land with an inquisitive and explorative mind. However Roamer had seen and mentally mapped the whole of White Deer Park already, and longed to continue his want to explore... and often, he would stare out across the park boundary. He knew nothing of danger inside White Deer Park but knew all about the dangers beyond its borders; that was the only thing that stopped him, but it was still something that remained in the back of his mind. Roamer might stay if he met a vixen, though he hadn't had the interest in mating in the recent spring.

It was late in the day now and a bright orange haze lit the sky in the west, casting long dark shadows of the tall oak trees of the woodland of White Deer Park. Roamer was casually strolling through the ferns along the forest floor on his way back to Farthing Land after his day of exploration. He had gone on his own this time as everyone else was 'busy', but Roamer didn't mind the solitude. It allowed him to explore with each of his senses; feeling the ground beneath his paws, watching the woods and grasses pass by as he wandered on, listening to the calls of birds and other animals, and smelling the multitude of scents around him...

Suddenly though, amongst all the smells, Roamer caught an unfamiliar scent, a scent which he found quite enticing. He intended to go searching for whose it was, but before he could the individual appeared with a rush through the shrubs. It was a fox, a vixen specifically, but Roamer noticed she was unlike any vixen he had seen. Like a walking shadow, the vixen was all black from nose to tail and several silver highlights streaked along her back. Roamer watched her in his own little world as she wandered, until he realised she was wondering over to him. She sat down before him, panting heavily, obviously after travelling for a long time.

"Hey..." the vixen asked through a heavy breath.

"Err... hey, you alright?" Roamer asked, a little awkwardly.

"Just... catch my breath..."

"Do you need a drink or something?"

"In a bit..." The vixen paused, still catching her breath "Is this... White Deer Park?"

"What did you miss the sign when you came in?" Roamer joked only to be met with a judging stare. He continued; "Yea, this is White Deer Park,"

"Thank god... I'm finally safe," the vixen said as she lay down on the floor, still very slowly catching her breath.

Roamer felt a little awkward. This vixen had just come out of nowhere and collapsed before him, clearly after being through some sort of ordeal. He didn't mind the female company, but was confused by her sudden appearance. He soon spoke to break the silence:

"So… err… What's your name?"

The black furred vixen lifted her head to look at him; "Raven..." she replied.

"Raven... funny name for a fox,"

"Ok, I'm not going to stay around and be insulted by you," the vixen muttered in annoyance, standing up to leave.

"Oh no... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Roamer assured her, "I understand: all black fox, named after an all black bird... it's a nice name,"

Raven smiled, "Thanks... but the colour is also a curse," she paused but continued again when she saw Roamer's rather blank expression; "An all black fur that some humans really... really want..."

"What do you mean?"

"I came here because I'm on the run... there's humans out there that want my fur!" Raven explained, beginning to cry, "… They already killed the rest of my family!" she then broke down, openly weeping.

"Hey... it's ok," Roamer moved closer to comfort her; "this is a Nature Reserve, any humans wouldn't dare come looking for you here, you're safe here,"

"Thank you," Raven composed herself to stop crying and looked up at Roamer with her glistening amber eyes, "I still don't know your name,"

"My name is Roamer," he smiled, "You still want that drink?"

"That would be nice," Raven smiled back.

"Come on, I'll show you the pond, and everywhere else too, I know everywhere around the park," Roamer explained, leading off in the direction of the pond.

"That why your name's Roamer?" Raven questioned wittily.

"Hmm... yes, yes it is," Roamer said proudly with a wide smile, "Come on; it's not too far,"

Roamer thought to himself as he and Raven travelled towards to the pond; he wasn't expecting this on today's expedition. As they continued to converse between them, Roamer quickly came to like Raven, and it was very clear in Raven's actions and words, she was glad to have his company too. In these moments, Roamer forgot about his possible plans on leaving White Deer Park. As he admired Raven, he realised; now he had a reason to stay.

* * *

Rebel had become rather aloof after his initial introduction to the Farthing Wood lifestyle; though that's because he didn't necessarily live by it. He had made his own earth away from Farthing Land, only visiting to come and see Scarlet, Plucky and their cubs, who were his nieces and nephews. The only other Farthing animal that Rebel saw quite often was the one charming blue vixen; Sapphire. She had taken quite a shine to him since meeting him, and they had spent time together before.

Things were a little awkward between them though. Rebel couldn't see what Sapphire found so interesting in him. He wasn't necessarily a strong fox or, since having his eye gouged out, particularly handsome. Little did Rebel know, that is what Sapphire liked about him. He had told her the story of how he lost his eye, or more correctly: how it was taken from him. The fact that Rebel bared that injury was proof that he was a brave fox who had stood up for what he believed in... A quality that not all had.

It was late morning. The sun was approaching its highest point in the sky and it was warming up for the season. Rebel was sitting on the edge of the stream staring into the rippling current of the water. He could see a wavy version of his reflection, but could still clearly see his gouged eye, and the blood that still stained his fur. Rebel had tried time and again to wash it out, and had just tried again... but no matter how hard he did; the blood stain remained... a permanent mark of the result of his defiance…

Sapphire too was on her way to the stream and was quite pleased to see Rebel there. She walked over to him, so lightly on her paws that Rebel had no idea she was there, especially since she was approaching from his blind spot, and he wasn't expecting company. Sapphire greeted him with a:

"Mornin-"

"GAAHHH!" Rebel jumped, turning to look at her.

"I'm sorry!"

"Sapphire! Why do you keep sneaking up on me like that!?"

"I'm sorry! I don't mean to!" Sapphire apologised genuinely, "I often forget your... errr... one eye,"

"Hmmm..." Rebel exasperated, "Next time maybe grab my attention before you sneak up to me,"

"Ok, sorry again... though it is a little funny," Sapphire could stop herself from giggling slightly.

Rebel just shook his head with a smile. It wasn't the first time Sapphire had sneaked up on him, but he knew she always meant well, "So how you been?" he asked.

"Ok really... Rusty is being over protective as hell..." Sapphire explained.

"With good reason after what he's gone through,"

"It's so sad; it's really changed him,"

"Well losing your mate and your cubs in the space of a night will do that to you,"

"I don't know what more I can do, I mean I'm there whenever he needs someone, but his over protectiveness is becoming unbearable... I know he means well, but the way I feel it's as if he's trying to push everyone away, and I feel terrible about it,"

"There's nothing more you can do, other than be there for him,"

"I know-" Sapphire and Rebel's conversation was suddenly interrupted by the very fox they were talking about.

"Sapph! Come on, let's head home!" Rusty shouted out, rather commandingly, from behind them far by the tree line. He was looking over at them with a rather judgemental stare, directed mainly at Rebel.

"Just a minute," Sapphire called back.

"He doesn't like me, does he?" Rebel asked her, having noticed Rusty's rather judging stare of him.

"I wouldn't say that, just wary," Sapphire assured him.

"Well he shouldn't, I'd try and keep you safe just as much as he does,"

"Thanks... But the last thing I need is someone being protective of me again... not like there's anything around here to protect me from," she then looked at Rebel with a slight blush, "I do wish you'd live closer to home though, I'd like to see you more often,"

Rebel did take those words to heart, "Tell you what... I come here every evening before I go hunting, perhaps we meet here beforehand?"

"I'd like that," Sapphire smiled widely.

"Sapph!" Rusty shouted again, becoming increasingly impatient.

"Coming!"

"You best get going," Rebel pointed out.

"Yea... though, I'll see you later?" Sapphire asked.

"Better say tomorrow actually,"

"Why not tonight?"

"Best leave it because your brother doesn't seem too happy,"

"Fair enough," Sapphire shrugged, but then smiled at Rebel, "I look forward to it,"

Rebel just smiled back as Sapphire turned away and trotted off to join her brother, the two of them then swiftly returning home to Farthing Land. Rebel turned back to the stream, deciding to take a drink this time rather than just stare at the water, before he left to return home himself. He thought about the following night to come. He liked Sapphire's company and had had a sort of crush on her ever since meeting her... It then suddenly hit him; he actually had a date with her now.

* * *

On their way back home Rusty and Sapphire didn't talk. As if Rusty was on a mission, he strolled without any falter to his steps and a stern expression on his face. Sapphire was finding the silence unbearable and she was more tagging along behind Rusty rather than walking beside him. She could tell he was probably in a mood because of the quick scene with Rebel by the stream. But whatever was going on in her brother's mind, Sapphire wanted him to be ok with it... she liked Rebel, but she didn't want to tear a rift between Rusty and herself.

She quickly ran up to walk beside Rusty and broke the insufferable silence.

"Hey... you don't mind me hanging out with Rebel do you?"

Rusty turned to look at her, his face with no specific emotion; "Why do you ask?"

"Because I know you don't like him," Sapphire assumed.

"No... it's not that, I just don't know if I can trust him," Rusty looked away, "I don't know if he'll hurt you,"

"Why not trust him? Everyone else does... and he won't hurt me,"

Rusty lightly huffed and stopped still, wishing that his sister wasn't pressing this matter; "Look... Sapphire... I just don't want to see you or anyone else get hurt,"

"And I understand that... but Rusty... you can't tell me what I can and can't do,"

"I'm not... I just want you to be safe that's all-"

Sapphire lowered, her head and rolled her eyes; "Please stop that..."

"What?" Rusty backed up looking genuinely upset by Sapphire's last remark.

"Rusty I don't want to upset you, but your over protectiveness is really starting to get on my nerves a bit... I need my own space too," Sapphire said awkwardly, noticing Rusty's expression, "You're my brother, and I love you, but if you aren't careful you're going to start pushing me and everyone else away,"

"I... I didn't realise," Rusty began, "It's just I..."

He couldn't think of what to say or how to react. The pain still lingered with him. Thankfully, Sapphire stopped him from having to.

"You don't need to explain or apologise... it's not fair what you've been through, and I'll always be there if you need someone to talk to,"

Sapphire smiled at him, and Rusty weakly smiled back. The blue vixen looked back to the direction they were originally travelling; "Come on lets-"

"You go on..." Rusty interrupted, "I... I need some time alone,"

Sapphire gave him a quick sisterly nuzzle and soon galloped on through the woods back home, leaving Rusty to his thoughts.

* * *

Rusty's thoughts though, didn't begin on a positive. If there was one particular thing that annoyed him the most, it was the fact everyone was so happy this spring. Rusty was not. Rusty was by far probably the most upset of all the animals of the park.

He was grieving.

Out of the Farthing Fox's, Plucky wasn't going to be the only new father this spring. Rusty had found a mate, a beautiful young red vixen of his age, and he had mated with her. However, the vixen became gravely ill before giving birth and sadly, she died, leaving Rusty ultimately heartbroken. All he wanted was an ordinary life with a family, and in a cruel twist of fate... it had been taken from him. So suddenly too.

Now Rusty threw himself into looking after the family he already had; his parents and siblings, to a point of over protectiveness. It was Sapphire who suffered from that most. She had inherited her mother's very caring nature and was always there when Rusty needed cheering up, but now Rusty was becoming too dependent on that.

After Sapphire had left him alone, Rusty began to think. She was right... he was pushing people away, even though he was just trying to be caring... trying to protect the ones he loved... Sapphire didn't understand that. She didn't know what it felt like! She hadn't lost someone close to her!

Rusty sighed, letting out a small huff of resentment that wasn't worth it. Sapphire had helped him the most through this... how could he get angry with her? He had a lot of thinking to do, or maybe none at all... he wasn't sure. But Rusty thought it would be best to spend some time alone for now; it was time for a change.

* * *

Very different to his cousin's desires in life, Pace was one red fox that just went with the flow. He had no brothers, only sisters, therefore had grown a strong brotherly attachment to his cousins, Rusty and Roamer. However this didn't mean he shared Roamer's want and need for exploring, or Rusty's wish for a normal family life... Pace was feisty and cocky and a very fast runner, much like his elder cousin Plucky.

However, he was slow where it counted. Not that he knew it, but by now he was most likely a father twice over, having found and mated with two vixens during the spring. But his focus was more strictly for the pleasure rather than love or to find a mate, and he and the vixen's had gone separate ways after it was done. Pace would probably have been more open about this lifestyle, but after hearing about Rusty's tragedy, he decided to keep it to himself... or at least he tried to.

Out and about in the Nature Reserve, Pace was just wondering towards the stream for a drink, preparing to go hunting. It was approaching sunset and a haze of orange now dominated a clear late spring sky.

After reaching the stream and taking several laps from the calmly flowing water, Pace looked up and could see another red fox sitting further down on the river bank with their back to him. Pace didn't recognise the fox, from behind at least, but did notice it was a vixen; her physique was slender, her fur smooth and... well... she was just generally good looking.

Pace smirked as he admired the vixen; surely he could go for it a third time; it was still Spring after all... just about... He walked up calmly and spoke out confidently to the vixen;

"Hey... just seen you from over there and was... you know... wondering if you wanted to find a secluded bush or something... and we can..." he chuckled slightly, "Get acquainted,"

Waiting for a verbal or even just a physical reply, Pace sat there eagerly. The vixen soon turned her head to look at him, and Pace was not expecting to see whose particular face it was.

"OH GOD!" he exclaimed, looking away from the embarrassment; realising he'd just tried to hit on his own sister; "Faith! ... what the hell!?"

"Well it's nice to know you don't recognise me from behind," Faith said humorously.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything!?"

"I was curious what you were going to say,"

"Urrghh... I'm so embarrassed..." Pace lowered his head, "I mean... you know what I would have done there?!"

"Well... let's not rule anything out..."

Pace looked at Faith, raising one eyebrow and narrowing the other in confusion; "Are you serious?"

"NO! ... Ewww no!"

"Alright, alright..."

"I can't believe you'd even... you're disgusting,"

"And you're misleading," Pace pointed out.

An awkward silence remained between them; it was expected obviously, considering the situation.

"Let's just… pretend this never happened, ok?" Faith spoke reassuringly.

"Errhmm… I agree, I agree, very much," Pace nodded flippantly.

"But err, can I ask? … Does that actually work?" Faith asked inquisitively.

"Huh? Wha-?" Pace stammered, somewhat shocked by the question.

"The just going up and asking approach?"

"Oh... errr, once," Pace answered slowly.

"Hmm... interesting," Faith pondered.

"The other time... There wasn't even any words," Pace chuckled slightly, "Actually there was one point when-"

"Pace..." Faith spoke quite sternly.

"Too much info?"

"Yea... waaaaayy too much,"

"Sorry..." Pace held his head down.

Faith sighed, "I do wish I was as confident as you though,"

"Heh… it's not so much confidence… its more about not caring what anyone else thinks of you…"

"Isn't that basically what confidence is?" Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Eeerrr… yyeeaa… iii… shut up…" Pace playfully snapped back, not being able to counter Faith's comment; she just giggled humorously.

"Come on you," Pace said, standing up and briefly strolling towards the woods.

Faith just watched him.

"To do what?" She asked.

"To go hunting," Pace stated.

"Together?" Faith questioned, tilting her head slightly.

"Why? Is that a problem?"

"No… I just thought you were more of the 'lone fox' these days…" Faith explained, standing up to join her brother, "Or at least prefers the company of vixens that you can later copulate with," she finished with a smug smile.

Pace made a jokily sarcastic laugh from Faith's statement. He knew she was joking. Faith was quick witted… incredibly quick witted, but Pace liked her company, and she liked his, they were family after all; and so for the first time in a long time they joined each other on hunt together, skulking off into the darkening woods as day turned to night.

* * *

A large full moon floated in a sea of black, illuminating small streaks of clouds. It shined off the metal as he looked at it… As the grey fox examined the White Stag's profile upon the sign that showed on the fence of White Deer Park.

With almost an army of foxes behind him, he sauntered through the fence into the Nature Reserve as if he owned it, his legion of followers and his blue fox allies filing behind him. With their arrival… the animals of White Deer Park would be soon to realise this haven in world of danger, was soon to become far less safer…


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **'** ** _Turbulence_** **'**

Time passed, and still far away from White Deer Park, Perry lingered around the airport where he had met the female falcon, Swift. He had seen her again... more than once; and more than once too did Perry assist in her job of diverting (or killing) any other bird that came too close to the airport runway.

During this time Perry and Swift had also grown closer as friends, and exchanged stories of their past and experiences, although it was more of a one sided conversation… Swift was so interested in Perry's explaining of his and his friend's long journey to the Nature Reserve that she barely wanted to tell him about herself. To Swift, she considered her life to be rather boring compared to Perry's; but even so, Perry still met with her every day, and they were now virtually spending almost every moment of the day together, from when Swift's handler would let her out in the morning from when she returned at nightfall.

Perry was overjoyed with his friendship with Swift… but of course Perry wanted more than just a friendship. Although he had met no other falcons in his life, he felt there would be none like her. Swift was beautiful, caring… a little hot-headed but Perry kind of liked this, and she flew with such grace and elegance that matched no other bird. Perry couldn't help it… he was in love. He only feared that it was unrequited and Swift wouldn't feel the same way.

But Perry didn't know that. Swift was impressed by him, his ability at hunting and flying; Perry even knew several advanced aerobatic manoeuvres she herself hadn't even learned and was astounded that he had learned these on his own too. Swift's admiration for Perry was mainly because he was wild. She had been in captivity all her life and had no clue of the world outside her job or outside living with her handler. It's not that she didn't like her life as it was, but she had been contemplating what her life would be like if she lived wild… with Perry. It was no use escaping her feelings either. She liked him… a lot… but what to do about it she had no idea…

It soon came the time when Swift was now comfortable enough for Perry to meet her handler, especially since Perry had been helping with Swift's job. She had only left it till now because she wouldn't know how her handler would react to wild falcon or Perry would react to being round a human. It still took Perry a bit of convincing and it hadn't been the first time Swift had tried either…

"...Come on Perry, I want you to meet him!" Swift tried to persuade him.

"Your handler? Really?" Perry replied with an unconvinced moan, "I dunno…"

"Oh go on Perry... he's a nice guy, he's not like other humans,"

"I still don't know… it's not like I've had any bad experiences with humans, but… I still don't know how he'll react,"

"Perry, we're the same species… you're no different than me and I basically live with him,"

"You're sure he'll be fine with it?"

Although Swift wasn't sure of the answer, she replied positively; "Of course he will,"

"Absolutely?"

"Yes!"

Perry looked at her still with an unconvinced expression as Swift only smiled at him.

Eventually, Perry gave in "Oh," he now smiled back, "alright then,"

The next day, as it came time for Swift to go back to her handler, Perry accompanied her. It was nearing sunset and the orange haze of the sun illuminated a thin layer of clouds in the distance. The airport runway was now illuminated with its assorted colours of light, guiding all approaching aeroplanes to a safe landing.

The area they went to was a secluded section of the airport, the other side of the runway to the glass clad structure of the airport terminal. It was the quietest place in the airport's perimeter… that's not saying much considering the landing and taking off aircraft still made a stupendous amount of noise. Swift and Perry perched on a wood log fence which marked the boundary of a small gravel strewn car park, with very few cars on it.

A human soon appeared the far side of the carpark, walking calmly towards where Swift and Perry were perched on the fence.

He held out his arm and called out; "Swift!"

Usually Swift would fly over to land on his arm, though this time Swift remained where she was, perched on the fence next to Perry. It was then when her handler noticed the addition of a second falcon.

"Interesting," the human muttered to himself. He lowered his arm and continued to walk over.

Perry was feeling uneasy, but stayed silent and looked between Swift and her handler as he walked calmly over to them. As he came closer, Swift then decided to fly over, the human holding up his arm for her to land on the thick leather glove he wore.

"Hey girl," Swift's handler greeted her, "I see you've made a friend then," he said cheerily.

Swift then flew back to the fence next to Perry, her handler slightly chuckled at her clearly excited erratic behaviour.

The human approached again slowly; Perry lightly backing away and warningly extending his wings and looking towards Swift. Swift only gave him an encouraging look… it was all he needed to ensure him everything was ok. The human looked at Perry, quickly speaking out;

"You are handsome fellow," he smiled.

With this compliment, Perry felt less tense… it made Swift smile widely.

The human continued to look over the stranger falcon, making eye contact to establish he was no threat. He took an interesting look at Perry's right wing, noticing the slight injury that (although healed) still remained from when the fox had bitten right through it.

"Let me see that wing," the man said calmly, opening his palm in front of Perry, close enough for him to retract it if Perry lashed out.

"Is he serious?" Perry looked to Swift, not that the human could understand them.

"Yea, don't worry, he won't hurt you," Swift smiled reassuringly.

Perry looked back to the human and turned so his right side was facing him allowing Swift's handler to examine his wing. The human was very careful, being very gentle and not doing anything sudden that would startle the wild falcon.

"Hmmm… I see someone has had a good chew on your wing-" the human diagnosed.

"Wow, he is good," Perry remarked to Swift, clearly impressed by the human's ability to notice the injury, let alone how it happened.

"Told you," Swift smiled widely.

Her handler then let Perry's wing go, allowing Perry to fold it back against his body.

"That's well healed on its own though..." The human spoke again, "couple of misplaced feathers but nothing major… seems you've had quite a few adventures little guy," he finished with a smile.

Perry almost smiled back at him, although was a little unsure of being referred to as 'little guy', he took it in stride as another compliment. Swift was overjoyed the meeting had gone so well, and it continued to go well until Swift and Perry bade each other farewell for the night, and Perry flew off to hunt and Swift went home with her handler.

Over the next few days, Perry still accompanied Swift to meet her handler when she would return to him. He didn't mind the opportunity to actually interact with a human, but he did think that Swift's attachment to her handler would stop him from making any sort of progress in establishing a romantic relationship with her… it was a complicated situation, but what Perry liked about it was just getting to see Swift every day.

On one particular of these days though, Perry and Swift met up as usual, not knowing that by the end of the day, both of their lives would be changed forever…

On an average clouded sunny day, both falcons were patrolling the edge of the airport boundary on another busy day for the airport. However in the distance, a huge murmuration of starlings was approaching the perimeter, clearly unaware of the danger from the gargantuan aircraft… and the danger they posed to the aircraft themselves, especially since one was taxiing for take-off. Swift and Perry, without any words, went into action immediately.

Moving swiftly as a group and now over the end of the runway, the starlings then saw the two menacing peregrine falcons approaching them. Just Perry and Swift's presence alone was enough the send the starlings clear of the runway in a sort of orderly panic… it took barely a few seconds.

The two falcons were so involved with again successfully performing Swift's job together, they were oblivious to the activity on the runway behind them, and the danger the starlings were just saved from, the two falcons had now put themselves in…

The plane that was previously taxiing had just taken off from the airstrip, heading towards the two birds. They both didn't notice the metal behemoth's deafening roar before it was too late to move out of the way.

Perry turned instantly as he heard it.

"Swift look out!" he quickly remarked to her of the danger with a loud shriek.

As the plane cut through the air, Swift and Perry were caught in its wake. Perry was very nearly sucked into the menacing spinning turbine of the jet engine, but quickly dived, allowing the plane to pass over him cleanly. The acrid smelling wash from the jet engine and the aggressive turbulence in the air knocked him off balance and caused him to fall slightly, but he managed to regain control of his own flight after the plane had passed.

However Swift was caught above the plane and dragged along the fuselage, taking a slight knock to the head, she became disoriented. She hadn't realised that, despite the chances, the strap around her leg as part of her falconry gear had gotten caught on one of the planes antennas. Suddenly she was slammed against the planes body, unable to move as the fast flowing air pushed her down.

"PERRY!" she managed to scream out before the airliner began carrying her further into the sky.

Despite through the deafening roar of the jet engines, Perry heard her cry, and with his falcon eyes could see her being dragged away. Perry took pursuit of jet… but it was a futile effort. The aircraft was much faster than him, and could certainly gain altitude faster than him. But Perry never let the plane out of his sight; Swift was in trouble, and he would save her… he only wish he knew how.

Swift still struggled to free herself from the planes antenna. The strap around her leg was what was caught on it. The fast moving air still had her pressed against the fuselage, she could only move her other leg to try and release herself. The plane continued to climb, and soon, the air became so thin Swift began finding it difficult to breath. Becoming increasingly lightheaded Swift put all her strength into freeing herself, eventually reaching far enough to unhook herself from the antenna. However when she gained her freedom she was suddenly swept away along the rest of the aircraft, violently hitting her head on the tail wing, knocking her unconscious. Swift now fell helplessly and unconscious from 30,000 feet.

Perry's pursuit of the aeroplane was futile, he could still see it… but only as a speck of black, high above him, but he still followed. The increasing belief that there was nothing he could to save Swift was beginning to overshadow his determination. However, before he was just about to give in to that fact, he saw another small speck appear in the sky not too far from what was the plane. It seemed to be falling… falling fast. Perry thought it could be Swift making a stoop, but the speck fell uncontrollably without any elegance. He didn't expect it to be her, but as he examined it further while the speck continued to fall, he could see now… It _was_ Swift.

She still fell unconscious, tumbling through the air as a falcon shaped ragdoll. She fell past Perry, already falling at terminal velocity. Perry entered a stoop in an effort to catch her, quickly accelerating and meeting Swift in the air. But so as not to hurt her by using his talons Perry caught her by wrapping his wings around her… but he still needed his wings to fly. He was now tumbling too… but at least he had caught Swift and he was conscious. Perry looked around to find how close the ground was, finding it to be closing fast.

"SWIFT! … SWIFT WAKE UP!" He shouted directly into her face, both to try and wake her and be heard over the loud rush of the air as they continued to fall through it, closer and closer to the ground, now no more than a thousand metres away.

Swift stirred slightly, opening her eyes to meet Perry's gaze. She was still a bit disorientated but enough to hear Perry shout at her again;

"HOLD ON TO ME!"

Swift listened and grasped her wings around him, holding tightly, allowing Perry to use his own to gain what lift he could in the two hundred metres left between them and the ground. Perry extended his wings – they immediately slowed down, but just not quite enough. Still travelling at quite some speed he began to glide, but was weighed down by carrying the half-conscious female falcon. The distance to the ground now less than fifty metres, Perry had to maneuverer around large tree canopies, but eventually clipped one branch.

Falling into a dive he and Swift prepared for the impact on the ground. Perry managed to lift up enough so that they skimmed across the short grass in the meadow before eventually hitting the ground. Going so fast, they tore up clumps of dirt and grass as the two falcons rolled across the ground, eventually coming to an abrupt stop next to each other.

Sprawled on the ground Perry and Swift breathed heavily with the relief of surviving their ordeal by freefall. They remained there a moment in silence staring into the azure void of the sky, only listening to each other's breath as it eventually began to steady; it also gave Swift time to become less disoriented from her concussion.

They had landed in quite a secluded meadow of the countryside, abundant in many colours of wild meadow flowers. They had come quite a distance from human civilisation but could still see their presence: a cobbled stone wall with a wood stile for ramblers to cross over. It was now, at ground level, the wind was much calmer, only lightly rustling the grass and flowers

Eventually Perry decided to lift himself off the ground, ruffling his feathers as he did so and extended his wings to check if they were ok. He was aching, but could assume there was no real damage from his part of the fall. Swift still remained on the ground, still feeling like her head was spinning.

Perry soon broke the silence between them.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Swift, still lying on the ground, nodded softly; "I think so," she murmured.

"We…" Perry stuttered, "We really need to stop having these rough landings…"

"Huh?" Swift muttered, lifting her head to look at Perry.

"I mean first the glass from that skylight, now this… god knows what trouble we'll get into next…"

"Perry-" Swift spoke softly, now shifting herself to stand up.

"Think I might be bad luck for you or something-" Perry continued remorsefully, still not looking at Swift.

"Perry-"

"Hmm…" Perry turned to look at her, finding Swift now standing and looking at him intently.

"You… you saved my life-"

"I… well… you saved yourself a bit too," Perry kind of shrugged off the fact.

"Hey," Swift tried to turn him around, "I… I can't thank you enough… you risked your life for me," she spoke with admiration.

"It's what anyone else would have done…"

"No, not everyone would risk their life like that,"

"I would for you…" Perry quickly answered.

"Perry?"

Although the timing was probably not the best, Swift was clearly looking for the real reason Perry acted so selflessly.

"Swift… I couldn't bear to see you hurt… I… I couldn't bear to lose you…" Perry gulped, not sure how to tell her, "I… I like you… I…err…. Like you a lot,"

Swift smiled widely as she heard this, "Come here," she said softly, as she moved closer to Perry, and, to his surprise, lightly pressed her beak against his.

"Swift?" Perry questioned…

"Well I… I wasn't sure how to say it either… but," Swift paused, "I… I really like you too,"

Perry and Swift both smiled at each other widely. They hadn't actually said the word, but they both knew what the other meant by saying 'really like'. They embraced each other, lightly wrapping their wings around the other's bodies as a form of hug. Perry was jubilant, in fact, they both were… Swift was just as jubilant that they had finally admitted they love each other, and for much of the afternoon they remained in that meadow, just glad to be in each other's company.

Now nearing sunset, the two falcons decided to finally return to the airport and back to Swift's handler. As they did they flew in unison, performing aerobatic manoeuvres in sync with such grace and detail, their movements mirrored almost to perfection – only two falcons in love would do such a thing.

They soon reached the gravel strewn carpark where Swift would return to her handler after a day's work. He was already there, awaiting the bird's imminent arrival, and as Swift's handler watched her and her male friend swoop and glide together in the sky, he knew as an expert that what the two birds shared was more than friendship. He smiled, happy that his companion had found a mate… one to spend her life with and live the full and fruitful life of a falcon as nature intended. He knew what he had to do.

The two falcons flew down to him, perching on the same fence post they usually did. Swift's handler strolled over and almost sighed before he spoke to them;

"I've studied falcons enough to know you two are more than just friends," The human turned to look at Swift and spoke almost remorsefully, "Swift… I knew this day would come eventually, and I'm not going to stop you from living a full life,"

The human raised his arm, allowing Swift to jump and perch upon the thick leather glove that her handler wore. After she had, the human took off Swift's falconry gear, including the strap around her leg (coincidentally the piece that nearly killed her that day). Swift looked at him with a confused expression.

"I'm letting you go..." her handler said to her calmly, "You're free…"

Swift didn't know what to feel in this moment, she was both joyous and saddened, but her handler assured her otherwise.

"You just be safe, ok?" he said reassuringly

Swift nodded in reply, and gladly accepted a loving single finger stroke from her handler from her cheek to underneath her chin.

"And you keep her safe little guy," Swifts (now former) handler spoke to Perry.

The human smiled when Perry genuinely nodded in reply. He then elegantly took off into the air, and after a little hesitation, Swift followed, making the distinctive shriek of a falcon, as a form of goodbye to her former handler.

"Goodbye Swift," he quietly muttered to himself, as he watched the two falcons fly off into the glimmering orange light of a sunset sky.

Perry set off, Swift in tow, excited to now act and live as a free and wild creature. They flew together now, a pair bonded forever. The male falcon knew exactly the place to go… free of danger and free of humans… the very place he had left after spending almost half his life to get there; White Deer Park.

However, Perry was not aware of it yet, but the White Deer Park he was to return to would not be the same as the one he left ages ago… all that was about to change…

* * *

Many miles away, back behind the fences that shielded them from the dangers of a human world, the animals of White Deer Park were settling in for another night, and for others it meant time to go out… and hunt.

In the confines of Farthing Land, in the glade outside Plucky's earth, Scarlet had just disappeared into the foxhole, attempting to get their cubs off to sleep, while Plucky remained outside as he was about to go hunting for them both.

For a change, Plucky had invited his grandparents to accompany him for tonight's hunt. Fox and Vixen politely agreed; they would usually hunt together just the two of them, but getting the opportunity to spend some prolonged time with their grandson, they took it, considering how busy Plucky usually was.

They were all there in the clearing ready to go when, quite suddenly, the distinctive whistle echoed through the hole in his wing as Whistler abruptly landed in the glade, surprisingly not by crashing in a heap on the ground for a change; it immediately caught everyone's attention. The heron seemed out of breath and in a bit of a hurry, which he made clear by what he said next.

"Plucky..." Whistler began, "Laird has requested your presence at the stone circle,"

"Did he say what for?" Plucky questioned curiously.

"Unfortunately no... But it's important; some sort of summit is going on," the heron continued.

"This is most unusual," Vixen remarked.

"Indeed… I don't recall having my presence requested like this before," Fox commented, then turned to his grandson, "Best not keep him waiting Plucky,"

"I agree… I'll go now..." Plucky began, "though whatever Laird wants me for I'm getting a bad feeling it's not for a good reason…"

Plucky didn't waste time, he quickly went into his earth to inform Scarlet of the situation and then immediately set off to the stone circle alone.

The sky left a thin strip of orange from where the sun had now set behind the clouds in the distance, and the other side of the sky gradually became a dark navy blue, slowly turning into a deep, star dotted black.

Plucky reached the stone circle, toning his pace back down to a stroll after running to get there. He could see Laird, stood authoritatively upon the angled centre stone, like his grandfather, the original Great White Stag, used to do before him. As Plucky moved closer he noticed two other smaller figures within the circle… two other foxes; and although it was now darkening, Plucky could clearly see, neither of them were red foxes, one was grey, and one was blue.

Plucky didn't recognise the Blue fox, but he almost had to suppress a growl when he saw who the Grey fox was. It was Tyran… the one fox that Plucky could immediately assume was his enemy. The red fox knew for certain that this meeting would not bring a positive outcome.

"Plucky, I'm delighted you could join us so quickly," Laird greeted the red fox.

"Whistler said it was for an important matter, therefore I didn't dawdle,"

"And I thank you for your promptness," Laird then spoke to all three of them, "I would like to keep this summit short, due to the time of day,"

Each of the three different colour foxes stood authoritatively, listening intently to the stag.

"The three of you stood before me are the respected leaders of your clans… Plucky, the leader of the Farthing Animals… Blaze, the leader of the Blue Foxes… and Tyran, the leader of the Grey foxes… The grey and blue foxes have come here looking for refuge from the world of humanity… as the leader of the White Deer herd, it is my duty to welcome you and ensure that your presence will not affect the peace of the park-"

"In that case Laird you can then tell the grey foxes to leave," Plucky suddenly interrupted forcefully.

Laird backed up from Plucky's sudden outburst, but allowed the red fox to continue.

Plucky turned to look at Tyran; "I was under the impression there was an agreement that the grey foxes were not to set forth in White Deer Park ever again," he said vehemently.

"I told you Plucky, that agreement was between you, and my Father… not me," Tyran answered clearly.

"Then where is Caesar?"

"An unfortunate incident I'm afraid," Tyran began forlornly "he and several of our number have been killed recently… Therefore we came here to seek sanctuary, and then we came into contact with the blue foxes,"

Plucky had reason to suspect Tyran wasn't telling the truth, nor was his sadness genuine. Considering the last time they had talked Tyran had threatened him, Plucky was acting defensively. The meeting however continued, so Laird spoke again.

"As I understand the Farthing Foxes and the Blue Foxes have a history as do you Plucky and Tyran and your Grey Foxes-"

"Not a positive history," Plucky interrupted again.

"Indeed… but due to this matter," Laird continued, "I decided it would be better to re-establish the old boundaries… for Farthing Land and the rest of the park… and as Blaze is the son of Scarface, he does maintain the right to his old territory, and the grey foxes will be allocated some territory of their own… that way you each have territories of your own and can all live within the park and keep to yourselves as much as you prefer,"

"And then how are we supposed to live… we can't hunt on Farthing Land…" Plucky pointed out.

"I am aware Plucky… but now that the park is much larger than before, with the addition of your respected territories, the rest of the park will be a neutral zone, where you both may enter to hunt and forage… that is as fair as I can make the arrangement… as long as the three of you agree to it."

"With respect Laird, I would like to request that the grey foxes and the blue foxes territory be conjoined," Blaze requested, "Our journey together to the park has created a bond between our clans… it would be a shame to lose it,"

"Then it shall be so," Laird approved.

"Then I agree… the terms are fair," Blaze said.

"As do I," Tyran said.

Laird gratefully nodded, then turned to Plucky.

"Plucky… as long as this sits well with you?" the stag asked.

Plucky wanted to protest… something… but he couldn't argue with the terms that Laird had created… they were all reasonable. But Plucky had this gut feeling all of this was wrong. He then remembered, Laird, Blaze and Tyran were looking for an answer.

"Of course," Plucky answered, and he continued unconvincingly to Tyran and Blaze, "Welcome to the park,"

The meeting quickly continued with the boundaries of each other's land been made clear, but it soon ended. Tyran and Blaze promptly left, but Plucky stayed behind, silently thinking to himself. Laird too turned to leave, but before doing so, noticed the red fox still sitting silently among the grass of the stone circle.

"Is there something on your mind Plucky," Laird asked the fox.

Plucky looked up at him and would be sure to make his thoughts known to the stag.

"Laird… you can't seriously be allowing this to happen?" Plucky spoke forcefully, now standing up.

"What on earth do you mean?"

"Allowing these other foxes to live in the park-"

"Plucky, this Nature Reserve is a haven for all animals, this includes them too,"

"Maybe the blue foxes do still have a claim on their old land, but they left on their own accord before… but these grey foxes… they don't belong here-"

"Plucky, I'm surprised you're acting so ignorant..." Laird now spoke forcefully, "Your grandfather and his friends were new arrivals to this park once too-"

"That may be... but my grandfather isn't a psychopath in disguise! … Tyran is!" Plucky explained, now raising his voice, "Take my word for it,"

"No Plucky... I will not, I've seen no proof of those accusations," Laird too had raised his voice.

"Then instead heed my words;" the fox implored, "Tyran and those grey foxes will bring nothing but misery to White Deer Park! And the blue foxes will be no better,"

"Plucky, my decision is final-"

"And you will regret it!" Plucky shouted angrily, "Goodnight Laird,"

Plucky turned away from the Great Stag, and departed the stone circle with a vigorous walk which clearly showed his anger.

After tonight, White Deer Park suddenly felt a lot less safe… and Plucky was sure that a conflict would erupt soon; he was certain Tyran and Blaze had come here for a reason, and he was also sure that reason was not to seek refuge... All he could do, was be ready for when it happened…


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **'** ** _First Blood – Part 1_** **'**

Day after day went by, and it appeared Plucky's assumptions of an approaching conflict were false. The day after the summit at the stone circle, Plucky had called a meeting of all the Farthing Animals, briefly explaining the situation and the new boundaries that had been emplaced.

That was now a good week ago, and since then, life went on as usual; everybody went about their daily business as if there was nothing out of the ordinary... but that was because there _was_ nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing had changed, and so it seemed the Grey and Blue foxes had kept to their word about keeping to themselves. But this calm - this silence, only fuelled the anxiety. This made some of the animals quite uneasy, Plucky, Scarlet and Rebel in particular, they knew how dangerous the grey foxes could be; but also the other foxes that had been around when the first feud had taken place against the blue foxes were feeling anxious too.

However, throughout the tension, Scarlet could do nothing more than continue to be a good mother, and continued teaching Bold, Valiant, Rosa and Diamond the necessary lessons they needed to live their lives as any other fox would.

On this particularly bright late spring day, Scarlet was actually being quite strict. She was forcing the cubs to sleep during the day as they had not yet hunted during the time of day when a fox usually would: the night. If anything Scarlet was actually guarding the entrance to her and Plucky's earth to be sure the cubs wouldn't go sneaking out. The red vixen was currently outside and lying calmly on the grass, alone... and bored.

Plucky was elsewhere, doing his duties, and, as of the arrival of the Grey and Blue foxes, scouting the edge of Farthing Land and then venturing (warily) into the Neutral Zone to check for any presence of them. She didn't feel any annoyance or anger over her mate's absentness though. She knew if she didn't have the motherly responsibility, she would be doing exactly the same thing.

Scarlet didn't know much of everyone else's thoughts about the situation in the park, and she dreaded to think what her old hunters would be planning… but before her thoughts and worries could start plaguing her mind again she suddenly had company.

The two young hare's, Hasty and Chipper came running into the clearing like they did every time they visited, with Dash and Bolt in tow. Dash and Bolt approached Scarlet while Hasty and Chipper continued to frolic around the glade.

"Hi Scarlet," Bolt greeted her, "You well?"

Scarlet lifted her head, but in doing so, forced a yawn to extrude from her maw.

"Long day?" Dash chuckled.

"No... Boring day... you guys pretty much just stopped me from falling asleep," Scarlet smiled. She was glad of the company rather than being left to her thoughts, "But I'm ok, and the cubs are inside today,"

"Where's Plucky?" Dash asked, "I haven't seen him in a while,"

"Doing his duties... which..." Scarlet sighed as she sat up, "Have become much more demanding since... well, you know,"

"Oh... of course yes," Dash responded, a little more morbidly than she intended, "though, I do feel safer with him out there protecting us,"

Scarlet would have said something in reply. She knew of course as the leader it was Plucky's duty to protect the Farthing community… but Plucky was one fox, against, what she assumed was more than likely an army of them. It was lingering thoughts like this that she was glad she was then pleasantly interrupted.

"Scarlet, can they come out and play?" Chipper asked the vixen kindly, after breaking off from his and Hasty's little run about and overhearing the location of their fox cub friends.

"Sorry Chip, not today I'm afraid..." Scarlet began to explain, "I'm giving them a night hunt lesson later so they're sleeping-"

"No we're not!" a voice, which was actually Diamond's, surprisingly, called out from the depths of the den.

"Shut up!" said a quieter voice, which was Rosa's, attempted to silence her. She was looking forward to tonight so, unlike her siblings, was actually trying to sleep.

Scarlet rolled her eyes and lowered her ears in slight frustration; "Well... they're-" she turned to face down the earth entrance, and raised her voice, "-SUPPOSED TO BE SLEEPING!"

"Come on Mom, the sun's still up..." Diamond whined, now poking out from the earth entrance.

"I'm not even tired," Bold moaned, now joining his sister.

"Do we really have to sleep now?" Valiant too now piled on.

Feeling peer pressured to join them; Rosa came up too, but stayed quiet.

"Yes because we're going out tonight," Scarlet answered Valiant's question calmly.

"Why? We can hunt during the day fine," Bold responded.

"Because foxes don't hunt during the day… we sleep during the day and hunt at night," Scarlet explained.

"You don't sleep during the day," Diamond boldly replied.

"No, not all day, but I still hunt at night... and you need to learn to do it too when you can't rely solely on your eyesight," Scarlet continued to explain, "Now please you four, try and get some sleep,"

"Yes mom..." Bold, Valiant and Diamond said in unison. Rosa had already turned back down the foxhole.

"You can play tomorrow if you aren't too tired," Scarlet summarised.

The four fox cubs returned down into the earth, each of them trying to get some sleep; their mother did have a busy night in store for them.

"Paws full I see," Bolt observed, "We can leave if you want-"

"No… I'd be glad of the company," Scarlet replied, "This situation going on in the park has just got me on edge,"

"Don't worry Scarlet, I'm sure all this tension is for nothing," Dash reassured her, "it'll all blow over soon…"

Scarlet wished she could believe her friend, but even so, she took Dash's optimism in stride. Dash and Bolt, and Hasty and Chipper too, kept her company for the rest of the day until the hare family decided to return home at sunset.

When the sun had finally fell beneath the horizon Scarlet set her lesson in motion and called the four fox cubs out from the den. It was the first time they had properly been out in the dark, but it wasn't much darker then the depths of the den they called home, so they each felt confident, and after finally getting some sleep, fresh and excited.

Plucky had eventually returned from his scout mission with nothing out of the ordinary to report. Again, this put him in an edgy and worried mood, but some brief quality time with Scarlet and then his cubs when they woke up improved this. Whisper came to visit too and agreed whole heartedly when Plucky invited her along to hunt with him. The plan for the night was for Scarlet to go ahead with her hunting lesson, while Plucky and Whisper would go hunting for all of them, in case Scarlet's lesson wasn't so successful.

Plucky and Whisper departed ahead, while Scarlet led the cubs through the woods, checking often to make sure they were all in tow. It was a clear and cool night but it was also dark; there was no moon tonight, so there was no real light. Quite quickly the four fox cubs saw their mother's point about not relying solely on their eyesight. At points, each one of them individually walked into or tripped over something, to the humour of the others (and secretly their mother too). Scarlet kept them all in check, all the way to reaching the stream, just beyond the border of Farthing Land.

The deep black, star dotted sky reflected off the calmly rippling waters; a mesmerising spectacle for the four young foxes; but they had not come for the scenery. Scarlet had come to the stream for them to not only learn to hunt in the dark, but to also now hunt live prey. The stream was abundant with water voles, which even without her mother's instruction, Rosa had already began to stalk one of them.

She went up to it calmly, a stalking, ruthless, young predator... Her paws made scarcely a sound on the grass... until she stepped on a twig with her front paw that she had not seen in the dark. It snapped, alerting the vole. Rosa pounced knowing her cover was blown, but the vole had already made it out of her reach. This only aggravated the vixen cub, seen as she was the 'prodigy' hunter of the four; she hated failing.

Bold had actually showed Rosa up, having actually caught a vole… sort of. He had only successfully caught the vole's tail, biting it off in the process, while the rest of the animal escaped. Still, this was the closest to catching live prey as the four of them had come so far. Valiant and Diamond had not even gotten close to one yet before being found out.

It was certainly true what their mother had said, it was much harder hunting at night, and much more different hunting live prey rather than catching a motionless pinecone that was incapable of running away.

Scarlet intervened, performing a demonstration where she stalked several voles at the water's edge. There were three in total, and for her, catching three voles was easy. The four fox cubs watched their mother make not just one, but three clean kills in just one pounce.

"This is my dinner... you still have to catch yours," Scarlet spoke to her cubs, using the tough love approach, as she placed the voles together on the ground.

The cubs separated, determined to catch something, while Scarlet continued to oversee each of them practice and progress from where she was sitting. They were each getting closer every time, but it was becoming clear the cubs would need more instruction, but as Scarlet was about to intervene again she suddenly had some unexpected company.

"Giving a night lesson I see?"

Scarlet immediately recognised the aged, yet influential voice of her grandfather-in-law.

"Hi Fox..." Scarlet greeted him, after being initially startled by his appearance, she continued; "yes I am, not going quite so well though,"

"Oh dear... but practice does make perfect," Fox smiled, "They'll get there eventually,"

"Yes they will, I'll make sure of that," Scarlet replied confidently, "I've got three voles here, would you like one?"

"That's very kind of you, but I'll decline as I've already eaten," Fox turned down Scarlet's kind offer, as he had an agenda; "But do you mind if I have a quick word with you Scarlet?"

"Not at all," Scarlet replied. She then turned to her cubs; "take a break you lot, but absolutely NO wondering off,"

Now with some free time, despite the so far unsuccessful hunting, the fox cubs began to play together silently while their mother and great-grandfather conversed. Fox came over to Scarlet and sat before her. Scarlet noticed that he seemed to be troubled by something.

"Is something the matter Fox?" Scarlet asked genuinely.

"I'd have gone straight to Plucky to ask, but I expect I wouldn't get a straight answer," Fox began, "I know his meeting with Laird didn't go so well,"

"No... not at all," Scarlet confirmed, "He came back in a huff and barely talked that night,"

"I have no doubt I'd have acted the same way... given the situation," Fox commented, looking away into the distance the other side of the stream, "With the blue foxes back it can't be good news... but that's my past talking,"

"I don't know about the blue foxes, I wouldn't know what to say..." Scarlet spoke, then sighed, "It's the grey foxes I'm worried about-"

"And that's what I needed to ask," Fox looked back at her, a serious expression on his face, "Tell me honestly... are we in danger?"

Scarlet hesitated to answer because she knew very well what the answer was. She looked away from Fox, as if she was hiding some sort of guilt.

"If I said no... I'd be lying right to your face," she eventually answered, but then spoke openly, looking back at him; "I'm scared Fox... if Tyran is the leader and Caesar is dead... that means there's no one to hold him back now..."

"It's fine to be scared..." Fox cut her off to comfort her, also guiltily as he realised he had just stirred up some worrying thoughts that Scarlet had obviously been keeping to herself. Fox continued: "Just don't let that fear make you choose the wrong decisions and don't let it change you... it's something I wish I could go back in time and amend," Fox looked away at that point, reflecting on some of his own bad decisions in life.

"I don't care what happens to me..." Scarlet said boldly, turning her head to look at her playing cubs, "... so long as they don't get hurt,"

"I know for a fact, both you and Plucky won't let anything bad happen to them," Fox assured firmly, "I must be going anyway... you do have a lesson to teach," he finished with a smile.

"Thank you, I'll tell Plucky you stopped by," Scarlet smiled too.

She watched him leave with a fairly slow walk, and as soon as Fox was out of sight Scarlet turned her attention back to her cubs... immediately turning into strict teacher mode again.

"Right! Playtime is over! ... I want to see each of you catch one vole before we go back home..."

* * *

Fox continued through the woods towards home, thinking deeply about the current situation in White Deer Park. The answer that Scarlet gave to his question was what he was expecting... but not what he was hoping. As much as everyone else did too, he wanted to avoid any confrontation and he knew secretly that as the one who ended Scarface's reign all those years ago, he was a prime target for the Blue foxes... the Grey foxes though... Fox had seen the ferocity that Caesar fought with when Caesar and Plucky duelled back in the early spring, and he expected the others would fight with the same ferocity.

It wasn't his job anymore to worry about and solve these problems, it was Plucky's now, but Fox still couldn't avoid thinking about it... his family, now four generations, was threatened, as well as every other animal that lived on Farthing Land.

He was taking an intentional detour home, following the border of Farthing Land, patrolling it, still not being able to resist performing his old job as leader and protector. The old fox stopped when he came to a gap in the line of trees, taking a long hard look of the darkened park from the elevated hill he was on.

A cool eerie whisper of wind blew through the trees and ruffled Fox's fur… this place was supposed to be paradise… but he and his friends had suffered time and time again from problem after problem here… even despite the times there had been peace; now White Deer Park was once again in a grip of fear. Fox had had enough of these thoughts, and soon left the view from the dell, and continued home.

It was abnormally quiet around as Fox strolled calmly through the ferns and grasses on the forest floor. But suddenly he stopped where he was. He had the strangest feeling that he was being watched or followed. A faint smell in the air caught his sense; not just one... but several scents of foxes he didn't recognise. He turned where he was. In the darkness there was nothing to see but the shapes of the trees, but Fox could feel the several pairs of eyes looking at him from the shadows.

"I know you're out there," he called, "so you might as well show yourself,"

A figure emerged from out of the darkness. A fox with a prominent blue fur and deep black head stripe stood some distance from Fox. Fox could have sworn it was Scarface himself that stood before him... but that was impossible... he was long dead. Fox stayed quiet, waiting to see if this blue fox would have anything to say to him.

"I see the great Farthing Fox hasn't grown comatose in his old age," the blue Fox mocked, "I'm sure though you probably don't know who I am,"

"There are many blue foxes around... so just who are you then?" Fox asked unemotionally.

"My name is Blaze... and I am the son of Scarface!" Blaze replied aggressively.

"I know another of his sons... Ranger-"

"Humph! That traitor..." Blaze interrupted, "he'll get what's coming to him,"

"No offence meant... but Ranger is the only one of you blue foxes who saw anything without such prejudice,"

"He is a selfish coward who betrayed us to pursue some red bitch he had is sights set on!"

"Easy there Blaze... that's my daughter you're talking about..." Fox growled.

"I'm sorry Fox... have I insulted you?" Blaze mocked again.

Fox ignored this. He could tell very well by Blaze's tone what he was here for.

"Let's not drag this out anymore..." Fox spoke, "I'm assuming this isn't just a courtesy meeting is it?"

"No... I have come to avenge my father and my mother... and I have come to take back what is rightfully ours... White Deer Park is _our_ territory and _our_ home! ... _all_ of it!" Blaze exclaimed assertively, as three more Blue foxes emerged from the darkness, slowly encircling Fox.

"Then you make the same dire mistake as your father..." Fox said as he looked round at the advancing foxes, "I never wanted a feud between our families, yet all Scarface could see in me was a usurper to his tyranny,"

"And is that not what you became anyway?" Blaze said cruelly, "I'll see a change to that..."

Fox stood his ground, swapping glances between each of his aggressors. The blue foxes, four in total - Blaze included, had him surrounded. They spat and snarled aggressively at the Farthing Fox... But Fox didn't intend to run. If Blaze wanted a fight... he'd get one...

"I should warn you..." Fox spoke fearlessly, "I might be old... but I'm _certainly_ not weak,"

"We'll see shall we?" Blaze responded maliciously, before he gave the order...

"KILL HIM!"

...


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 ** _'First Blood – Part 2'_**

The darkness of the night did nothing to prevent the success of Plucky and Whisper's hunt together. Both mother and son had made several decent catches that would provide themselves and Plucky's family with plenty of food... so there was no worry if Scarlet's lesson didn't go so well.

On the way back to where they had temporarily hidden their catch, Whisper was tagging along behind Plucky. Hunting with her son was something she loved to do... but preferred to avoid. It gave her too many memories of hunting with her lost mate: Plucky's father. The hunting style was both similar and different at the same time. Those memories put Whisper's mood down... even though she loved spending time with her son, and was glad too, having not seen much of him recently.

Plucky was not an oblivious idiot though. He could tell his mother's mood, just as easily as she could tell his. Noticing her lagging behind, head down in a sort of sulk, yet still clasping a dead mouse in her jaws, Plucky stopped, placing his own catch carefully on the ground. He turned to face her.

"Mom... are you ok? You seem very distracted," Plucky calmly questioned.

"It's nothing Plucky," Whisper muttered still with her mouth full, attempting to shove off the question.

Again, Plucky was not an idiot. He knew his mother was bothered by something; "Are we really going back to this whole secret keeping thing? ... Tell me what's wrong," He spoke.

Whisper placed her catch on the ground and sighed, looking down at the ground. She then looked up at Plucky, seeing the concern on his face.

"It's... it's just..." Whisper began, "I miss your father Plucky... and I still can't escape the fact it's my fault he's gone, even this long after,"

Plucky sighed; "Oh mom... you can't keep dwelling on that," he sympathised, "plus I forgave you for all that, remember?"

Plucky reminded Whisper of the time he had learned the truth of what happened before his father died. For a long time Plucky wouldn't even look at his mother let alone speak to her after finding out what she had done. It took the intervention of others for Plucky to eventually forgive her, knowing how grief stricken and guilty she was... and clearly, still is. After that, Whisper and Plucky grew a closer relationship to what they previously had as Mother and Son.

Of course, Whisper remembered this time well. She was so depressed that her only son hated her that she considered going back to living alone outside White Deer Park. But thankfully, Plucky did forgive her...

"I know Plucky... I know you forgave me... but it still doesn't change the past,"

"Well... why don't you go look for another mate?" Plucky suggested, trying to change the subject.

"There was... someone I met... while you was away," Whisper briefly mentioned, "But it just... fell apart,"

"I'm sorry-"

"I just..." Whisper continued, "...I thought after I became a grandmother, I could distract myself with helping you look after your cubs... but you and Scarlet are doing a wonderful job anyway... and they're already growing up so fast,"

"Perhaps you could help... I'm sure Scarlet wouldn't mind a break from the hunting lessons," Plucky chuckled slightly from his suggestion.

"Perhaps... I'd like that," Whisper weakly smiled, which then disappeared; "And I suppose I could try and find another mate again... but I wouldn't know what you would think of me, if I did find another mate,"

Plucky changed to a look of concern again; "Mom... Dad's been gone for a long time," he then moved forward to give his mother a light nuzzle, "And I'm not going to think any different of you if you found another mate,"

"Thank you Plucky... but I don't think-"

"Shh!" Plucky interrupted, looking into to distance away from Whisper. His ears were perked up high, as if he was concentrating on hearing something.

"Don't you tell me to sh-" Whisper was about to reprimand her son, but was interrupted again.

"Do you hear that?"

Whisper moved to stand next to Plucky, pricking her ears to listen for what Plucky could already hear. She now heard it too... it sounded like growling and grunting; at least two fox's were fighting, but the different tones led Plucky and Whisper to believe there was more than two. They also noticed that one of the accents sounded familiar...

"It sounds like Fox," Whisper said worriedly.

"And he's in trouble!" Plucky responded, stating the obvious. He darted off in direction of the fighting, Whisper following behind, both of them forgetting instantly about their hunt.

* * *

Back by the stream, Scarlet's hunting lesson had turned around. After going between each of the young foxes and giving them some private tutoring, each of them had now caught their dinner: a single water vole. Scarlet sat there as she watched her cubs eat their well earned and deserved food, full of pride and a wide smile across her muzzle. Scarlet was about to take the cubs back home, but suddenly she heard the distinctive sound of several foxes fighting... in the direction Fox had walked off in. Realising the present danger, Scarlet's first priority was to get her cubs to safety, but she had to go help Fox too. She knew that her cubs knew the way home, and that's where they would be safest.

"Bold, Rosa, Valiant, Diamond... all of you, get back to the earth!" Scarlet ordered them.

"What's wrong mom?" Diamond asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but the four of you must get home now! And don't come out until me or your father get home,"

The cubs nodded and Scarlet turned to face where the noise was coming from, but from behind her, the sudden voice of one of her cubs broke her stare.

"Mom let me help!" Bold stepped up, as the other three cubs ran off safely towards home.

"No Bold, stay with your brother and sisters... I need you to look after them,"

"But mom-"

"Now Bold!"

Bold turned and ran off after his siblings, but then he stopped, taking cover out of sight to see what his mother was doing. Something was wrong and he felt like he needed to do something. He waited until he saw his mother sprint off towards where the growling and grunting was coming from, and followed behind her at a decently undetectable distance.

* * *

The three blue foxes charged forwards while Blaze stood behind. The Farthing Fox simply sidestepped out of the way of the first, dodged the second, and tackled the third, knocking him to the ground. Fox was unmoved, and strolled around to face his attackers again, but not realising he had just turned his back on Blaze.

"I didn't realise I'd be fighting off cubs," Fox mocked the three that attacked him, but was caught off guard when the fourth one present had charged, leaped and bit into the back of his neck; "Arrgh!"

Fox was knocked to the ground, blood drawn from his neck.

"We're just getting started..." Blaze said menacingly.

Infuriated, Fox rolled over and stood to face Blaze, only to be met with his claws. Fox staggered back as Blaze cut across his face and shoulder. Blaze was expecting the old fox to stagger back in pain again, but was ultimately shocked when Fox swiftly returned the blow. He strategically leaped at Blaze so he could clasp his jaws round the front of the blue fox's neck. Fox had a firm grip and applied the pressure as he sank his teeth further into Blaze's neck; only to then be knocked sideways by one of the other foxes.

The blue fox tackled him with some force; Fox could have sworn he'd broken a rib, which was confirmed when he was knocked sideways again by a different fox. He gasped with the shock and pain as he fell to the ground, but slowly, he still got back up.

Outnumbered and weakening, Fox continued to fight for his life. It carried on for a couple of minutes of leaping, biting, and clawing. Each of the blue foxes had suffered at least one injury... but Fox had come off much worse.

When he was knocked to the ground again, Blaze went to finish him. He ran up and unmercifully sank his teeth into Fox's neck. He was only there for a second before a quick wisp of red fur rammed into his side knocking the blue fox cleanly to the ground.

Scarlet had charged into the scuffle with such momentum she had practically thrown Blaze across the darkened clearing, away from Fox. Blaze growled maliciously as he stood back up, the other blue foxes still in a shock from Scarlet's sudden aggressive appearance.

Hidden underneath some ferns at the edge of the arena, the young cub Bold had been following and witnessed his mother's expert tackle against the blue fox. He quietly muttered to himself with a smirk;

"Good tackle Mom," Bold continued to watch in anticipation, waiting for a moment where he could step in and help... although thinking he was way out of his depth here.

Fox stood up again, resolute on his feet, blood dripping from his wounds.

"Nice of you to join me," he remarked to Scarlet, moving next to her, "Thank you,"

"Well... I was around," she replied, not taking her eyes off the blue foxes. She quickly glanced at Fox, "Friends of yours?"

"Not what I'd call them," Fox muttered.

Fox and Scarlet took fighting stances, as Blaze and the blue foxes took theirs. They were about to charge when reinforcement arrived as Plucky and Whisper did. Whisper took stance next to Fox and Scarlet, while Plucky stood in front of them to confront Blaze about this seemingly unprovoked attack.

"What is the meaning of this!?" he aggressively asked the blue fox.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, Plucky... this feud began long before you were born," Blaze growled.

"No I don't think you understand Blaze..." Plucky cut in defiantly, "You violate the terms of the territory agreement, by trespassing on our land... and then you blatantly and maliciously attack my Grandfather... for a feud which actually ended before I was born too..."

Blaze glared at Plucky, "I'll make it very clear to you... All I want is the Farthing Fox dead-"

"We're all Farthing Fox's here... you fight one of us... you fight all of us," Plucky finished with a menacing growl.

Blaze was too enraged to make any reasonable decision; "Very well then... ATTACK!"

Now Red and Blue had equal numbers, each fox one on one; they met equally at the centre as they charged at each other. Blaze had gone to attack Fox, but Plucky had intercepted him, leaving Fox to tackle one of the other blue foxes, Whisper and Scarlet taking on the other two.

Whisper was a surprisingly vicious fighter, already she had laid several blows on her adversary with not one inflicted on herself. Fox too was holding his own... just. Having been weakened from the earlier injuries he was struggling but still managed the block and return the attacks from his opponent.

Plucky and Blaze were mostly evenly matched… but Plucky was younger, fitter, more agile; he was almost running rings around Blaze, managing to make several lunges that drew blood on the opposing blue fox. Blaze however caught him off guard at one point, tricking Plucky by moving one way but quickly changing to the other, he went for a clear bite of Plucky's exposed neck. But Plucky saw his blunder, preferring to not get bit on his neck, he raised his right leg which Blaze's jaw found. While Plucky still suffered the pain, his own jaw was free to clasp onto Blaze's neck. Both eventually relented from the pain and let the other go, but Plucky, springing from his hind legs, immediately leaped toward the blue fox, knocking him cleanly to the ground…

Scarlet was capable of holding her own. The blue fox she faced was younger, and clearly naïve; he made several attacks on her which lead to nothing as Scarlet dodged them. They exchanged a few minor bites and scratches, but ultimately, Scarlet had the upper hand.

The blue fox though, becoming infuriated with the scarlet vixen's fighting tactic, had a trick to play. When Scarlet had placed her weight on her front left paw after attacking, the blue fox made his move. Scarlet was suddenly knocked to the ground as her leg was swiped away by the blue fox. Within a split second she fell right over to her side, leaving herself vulnerable. She got one glimpse at Plucky, but he was too busy fighting off Blaze to notice her dire situation. The blue fox made his move, and maliciously sank his teeth into Scarlet's exposed neck... but she only gasped... as the blue fox had relented suddenly, and shouted with pain himself.

Scarlet, bewildered, shifted around to see what had made to blue fox back off, only to see her own son biting into the blue fox's back leg.

"Bold?" Scarlet muttered to herself in shocked confusion.

The young fox cub had seen the blue fox attack his mother, and with no thought for himself, Bold charged out of his hiding spot, taking a good clean bite into the blue fox's leg. Bold knew his act had given his mother her chance, and so let go of the fox's leg... but he wasn't expecting what was to come next. A swift front paw with claws out suddenly swept across his face, one of those claws, cutting deep across it. Bold was thrown backwards as the fox attacked him; he released a loud yelp as the searing pain cut across his face.

"NO!" Scarlet screamed louder than ever. She became feral - utterly fuelled with rage that this fox had attacked her cub. With an apparent super strength she got up and charged at the blue fox before he could hurt Bold again. Scarlet immediately floored the fox, and began mercilessly biting and clawing at him that blood began spurting from the wounds. The fox screamed with pain as Scarlet tortured him for what seemed like several minutes, but was in actuality only a few seconds.

"Scarlet stop!" Plucky shouted.

She looked up, realising the fight had ceased, everyone was staring at her, and Whisper had gone over to check on Bold. When Scarlet looked back down at the blue fox, he might as well have become a red fox; he was covered in blood, as were her own claws. She licked her teeth, recognising the taste of blood. She was breathing heavily and her heart was pounding… she had never been so angry in all her life.

When she relented, the blue fox immediately began to crawl away from her before he could get to his feet, at which he scampered away slowly, limping and whimpering. He looked back in terror at Scarlet.

"If you ever touch my cub again I'll rip your f**king throat out!" She screamed at him.

The two other blue foxes growled, while Blaze was silent.

"ENOUGH!" a loud commanding voice spoke out, "call off your attack Blaze,"

It was then several more foxes entered the glade, but these were Grey Foxes, and it was Tyran who was leading them. Scarlet's original malicious mood was suddenly swapped for ultimate fear when she realised one of the grey foxes among the party was not a fox at all, but was in fact a grey wolf. She was terrified of wolves, and she, as did everyone, now deduced that this particular wolf was Tyran's new bodyguard.

"Tyran..." Plucky growled.

"Plucky... how delighted to see you again," Tyran spoke almost genuinely.

"I had to guess this act of aggression was your doing," Plucky continued.

"You guess wrong... was it not quite clear it was my ally here who committed this particular assault?"

"I noticed, but I'm sure you had to be the mastermind behind it,"

"Honestly... I'm flattered..."Tyran replied again, almost genuinely, "but I'm not here for a fight-"

"Then why are you here!?"

"To give you a message, or, by better definition, a warning..." Tyran stepped forward, raising his head high, and spoke, in a malevolent tone; "White Deer Park, is _my_ territory now... and you have three choices," he paused, "You can leave the park now, and no more harm will come to you all... or you can all surrender, and pledge your allegiance to me-"

"Over my dead body," Plucky muttered defiantly.

"-If that's what it takes..." Tyran quietly and malicious chuckled, "because your third choice is to _die_... you... your family... and your friends," Tyran paused to let the information sink in; "Why don't you take some time to think about it," he finished with a malicious smile.

Without any word or any order, Tyran turned to leave, the grey and blue foxes following, to return to their own territory. Plucky kept a straight face until they had gone, before he scrunched it up and lowered his head. Fox practically collapsed, weakened from the ordeal, but he still lay with grace on the ground. Scarlet unfroze from her state of fear immediately rushing over to check on Bold.

Whisper had already attended to him, but Bold still felt the pain. As Scarlet came up to him, she could see the state her son was in. She lay down next to him, protectively curling her tail around him. Bold was trying hard to hide tears of pain, as the tears only made his cut sting. The claw from the blue fox that had struck him had caught his left eye; no doubt it would scar... now somewhat an inheritance of the bloodline: a scar over the left eye. Scarlet leaned down and began licking to clean the wound, Bold lightly whimpering as she did so.

"Bold, what on earth were you thinking," she asked tenderly.

Bold looked up at her with tears in his eyes, "I... just wanted to help," he paused as he gasped from the pain again, "and, I thought that other fox was going to kill you so I had to do something,"

"Oh Bold..." Scarlet leaned down to nuzzle him, "You really do have more courage than sense,"

Silence remained after that, as Fox recalled from memory that Vixen had said the same words about his own son Bold, and Whisper too had since repeated the same words about Plucky.

Plucky too came rushing over to Scarlet and Bold, where he spoke to his son, "You are a brave little cub Bold, but don't just go jumping into danger without thinking next time ok,"

"I won't Dad, I promise,"

Plucky turned to Scarlet; "Are the others home?"

"That's where I told them to go,"

"Ok, take Bold back," Plucky turned to Whisper, "Mother will you accompany Scarlet please,"

Whisper nodded to him. As Scarlet stood up and mustered Bold to his feet too, Plucky came round and nuzzled her affectionately.

"I'll be back soon," he whispered, and Scarlet nodded in reply.

Whisper led the way while Scarlet kept Bold close to her, and swiftly, the two vixen's and the one cub departed, leaving the two foxes alone in the glade of the wood. Plucky looked around at the ground, seeing drips and spots of crimson where blood had been spilled. He soon looked round to Fox, who was still lying on the ground.

"Are you ok?" Plucky asked.

"I can safely say I've been better Plucky," Fox groaned as he stood up, "Though how I'm going to explain this to your Grandmother is not going to be easy…" he sighed, "thank you for coming when you did,"

"Don't mention it… Come on; let's get out of here," Plucky gestured, planning to escort Fox home.

Fox was walking with a slight limp, the two broken ribs he had sustained being the most painful of his injuries. Plucky helped him along, but he had a burning question to ask his grandfather;

"So what are we going to do about this?"

Fox didn't immediately reply; "I'm not sure Plucky, but I think we might be way out our depth here," he sighed before looking genuinely at Plucky, "What you need to do is what's best for Scarlet and your cubs,"

"But I have to think about everybody else too," Plucky explained, "Tyran and Blaze pose a threat, and I have to do something about it..." Plucky sighed, "But I don't want to start something we can't finish…"

"It's too late for that Plucky," Fox looked down with guilt, "This already started a long time ago... and it's all my fault..."

This comment didn't fill Plucky with a whole lot of hope, but Fox had very little himself. For once, this wasn't his pessimism talking... it was fact.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Tyran exclaimed, "I told you not to attack them yet!"

"I was getting sick of waiting for you to finally put your pathetic plan into action!" Blaze replied forcefully.

"Which is now wasted because of your impatience!"

Blaze huffed and began walking away.

"This is alliance is shaky enough as it is," Tyran spoke sternly, "All I need you to do is to follow my orders-"

Blaze turned around quickly, squaring up to Tyran; "I do not take orders from you!" he interrupted with a growl, "This is an alliance, not a dictatorship,"

Tyran stood firm; "Yes it is an alliance... so you should consult with your ally before you make a move on our enemy!"

"I'm not here to assist _you_ on your conquest Tyran... I am here to retake what is _mine_!" Blaze shouted, before walking off in a huff, his blue foxes following him.

"It'll be _ours_ Blaze... once we are victorious," Tyran called after him.

The argument had erupted between the two leaders not long after they had left the clearing where the fight had taken place. Blaze had been fed up with Tyran's procrastination of beginning the conflict and so had acted without him knowing, which had in turn foiled Tyran's elongated plan.

The two of them had both lied through their teeth the week before when they told the great stag that the bond between their two clans was so strong. In reality, Blaze and Tyran were mostly at each other's throats over their different approaches to leadership, and the two tribes lived segregated, yet adjacent to each other in their territory... sharing a degree of mistrust between Blue and Grey.

Blaze and his blue foxes left to return home, leaving Tyran reeling with anger over the lack of his ally's cooperation.

"Do you need me to claw some sense into him?" The wolf asked Tyran cruelly.

"No Loner, stand down," Tyran said calmly.

"Perhaps this alliance was a mistake sir," Brazen (one of Tyran's loyal soldiers) spoke freely, "quite clearly the Blue foxes are in this for themselves,"

"No, we need their assistance to ensure our victory,"

"But we already outnumber those Farthing foxes without them!"

"You forget, they have their allies too, and the blue foxes know this land and our enemy better than us,"

"Or perhaps we could just avoid any confrontation whatsoever..." Covin interrupted.

"Shut up Covin..." Tyran growled at his brother-in-law, "That kind of pacifist talk makes you weak!"

Covin frowned at Tyran, but stayed quiet, allowing the grey fox to continue, as he did so, hiding a malicious smile forming across his muzzle;

"No… we'll give Blaze what he wants... for now…"


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry everyone about the wait, I wanted to get this chapter out sooner, although I found it quite hard to write and I'm not sure I'm happy with it… plus I don't think I really thought things through when I started uploading this story; I'll explain that after the chapter though… but either way; Here's chapter 6! :)**

* * *

Chapter 6

 **'** ** _End of the Beginning_** **'**

The words spoken the night before when blood was first spilt had resonated through the opposing sides, and Tyran's ultimatum and Plucky's refusal to take it meant only one thing; The War of Three Colours had begun.

But, even over in the grey fox and blue fox territory, not everyone was so enthusiastic about the bloodshed…

* * *

"He's a nightmare! An absolute arse of a nightmare!" Covin exclaimed to his sister, as he paced around the inside of the rock walled earth of the very fox he was complaining about.

"You know you should be careful what you say about him-" Pearl said calmly.

"I still can't believe you agreed to be his mate," Covin interrupted.

"When the clan leader asks you to be his mate, it's hardly something you can say no to," Pearl answered, explaining how she had come to be Tyran's mate.

"And when did this world become a place you couldn't say no to anything?"

"Covin… I don't need you judging me about my life choices," Pearl said sternly, "I do love him…"

"Really Pearl… I want to know," Covin said sincerely, "What exactly is it that you see in him?"

"Well… I… It was different before-" Pearl began, but as if he didn't even care what she said, Covin interrupted her again;

"He's a monster… and that's even more so now ever since he became our leader,"

"Look will you just stop worrying about me!" Pearl raised her voice, making Covin back off. He became sincere when he spoke next.

"You're all I've got you know… and if I'm honest," Covin sighed, "It was horrible to see you, paired off with someone I hate… and he's only going to bring misery to all of us with this conquest of his…"

Pearl didn't even respond to him this time. Part of her agreed with her brother, but these concerns for the whole grey fox troop were beyond hers. Covin's concerns however, were much more serious. He was very much against the whole idea of this conquest of Tyran's, and especially on having him as leader… but Covin kept quiet about this. Tyran was a ruthless dictator, and if Covin was to speak out against him… he would most likely share the fate of the other foxes that did when he had taken over after Caesar's rather mysterious death. Tyran was quick to dispose of any threat, and took almost all words against him as an act of treason, a crime punishable by death by the teeth and claws of his wolf bodyguard. Due to this, rather convincing reason, all Covin could do was endure the situation.

The eventual silence from the sibling conversation became increasingly awkward, until they were suddenly interrupted.

"Stop it! OW! … Leave me alone!" a young female voice suddenly blurted out from outside the earth.

The scuffle caught Covin and Pearl's attention, and slightly startled them when two of the grey fox cubs came running inside the earth. They were Pearl's and Tyran's cubs; Rogue and Reaver… and again Reaver was chasing Rogue, much to her dislike, as was quite clear by her whining.

The two cubs ran around the earth, and in an effort to stop it, as Reaver ran past Pearl, she slammed her paw down to the floor, catching Reaver's tail and bringing him to a sudden stop. Rogue continued running to hide behind her mother's tail.

"Hey… what have a told you about biting your sister!" Pearl reprimanded the fox cub.

"It was barely a scratch," Reaver moaned.

"You call this barely a scratch!?" Rogue shouted, popping out from behind her mother and showing the several scratches her brother had put on her, "He made me bleed mom,"

"You're such a wimp,"

"Shut-up!"

"That's enough!" Pearl shouted to them both, "Reaver, go outside and play with your other friends and leave Rogue alone,"

"Urgfh… fine!" Reaver groaned again, before leaving the earth.

"Honestly… I don't know what I'll do about that cub…" Pearl muttered after the young fox cub had left.

"He's horrible to me," Rogue practically whimpered as Pearl began attending to her scratches.

"Too much like his dear old dad…" Covin muttered sardonically.

"That's not fair Covin… he's only young,"

"Doesn't make it ok," Covin stood up to leave, "I don't remember ever laying a claw on you,"

With that, Covin left the earth with a slow stroll, leaving Pearl and Rogue alone.

"Mom, what's wrong with uncle?" Rogue asked, while Pearl still licked clean her few scratches.

"He's just upset Rogue, he's-"

"I could cheer him up," Rogue interrupted suddenly.

She looked up at her mother eagerly, her ears perked right up and tail thrashing side to side. Pearl was pleased to see Rogue so enthusiastic about something; she never usually was. It brought a smile to the vixen's muzzle, and as such she was convinced enough.

"Go on then… better catch up to him,"

Rogue left with an excitable burst of speed, now leaving Pearl on her own. She let out a yawn, and so, with nothing else to think of doing, she curled up to go to sleep.

* * *

Now wandering outside through the woods, Covin was in a bad mood; accompanied by the rather misleading, cheerful bliss and brightness of a spring-turning-into-summer day – and considering it was the middle of the day, he was intending to go back to his own earth and sleep. Although his plans did change, when suddenly:

"Uncle! … Uncle!" Rogue called.

Covin turned around to see his energetic little niece galloping after him, "Rogue," he spoke with some surprise, "You should be with your mother-"

"I know… but she said I could go with you,"

"Really? … Wouldn't you want to go and play with the other cubs?"

"Well everyone else is too busy doing that stupid play fighting… Dad I hardly see around, and Mom won't let me go out by myself… All I want to do is go exploring…" She finished, looking to her uncle with the same energetic expression she gave her mother; it worked too.

"Tell you what… you can come and go exploring with me," Covin said encouragingly, finishing with a smile to his niece.

Rogue didn't even speak a reply, only vigorously jumped on the spot and went to stand next to her uncle, and lean up to nuzzle him. Covin returned the affectionate nuzzle and then let Rogue start off their little explore together.

"Don't go too far ahead!" Covin called to his niece.

"Ok!"

So… cubsitting? Covin thought to himself silently; he was somewhat glad that his sister trusted him enough even though there was no doubt to her that he would be a good uncle... to Rogue particularly. She had taken a shine to him since before she was even allowed outside, and as far as Pearl was concerned (though she didn't openly mention it to anyone), Covin was much more of a father to Rogue than Tyran.

Covin and Rogue continued on through the woods, the elder fox watching keenly as the young vixen cub took many moments to stop and sniff around the surroundings at the assorted plants and little insects she could get close to; climbing over huge oak roots and fallen logs… even attempting to catch a single lone mouse she caught sight of.

She absolutely loved it, getting to explore what to her was such a beautiful world full of life, as hazes of glimmering light shone through the tree canopy. She was excitable, and it clearly showed with every step she took… And it certainly put a much needed smile on Covin's face.

* * *

Blaze had not slept since the foray of the night to attack the Farthing Fox, but instead had taken shelter inside his earth. By happenstance, it was the same earth he grew up in; the old, cold grey stoned earth of his family.

He had called a meeting; those in attendance were Trip, Blaze's cousin, and his two old friends from cubhood, Brute and Hunter. They weren't Blaze's advisors as such, but as his friends… and in the case of Trip: family… Blaze regarded them as such and held their word higher than anyone else's (not that he ever openly said it).

"So… we are at war with them now then?" Hunter asked curiously.

"Unless the events of last light proved otherwise… Yes," Blaze responded, rather bitterly.

"Good… so when do we attack that Farthing Wood menace!?" Brute asked, quite forcefully.

"I don't think it's best to be doing anything too soon… after last night they'll be expecting an attack," Hunter interjected.

"Well according to our ally, attacking is not our priority right now," Blaze responded.

Brute growled at this… he longed for the chance of combat, and was prepared to make a protest, but was cut off before he could by Hunter bringing up another topic;

"What of the fox who that one vixen practically tore to pieces?"

"He's recovering… somewhat… it did only happen last night… although there still is the high likelihood he'll die… that vixen did quite a number on him… never seen such ferocity," Blaze explained.

"He should have known better than to attack her cub then…" Brute commented.

"It's not like he would have known-" Hunter cut in.

"It's his own fault!" Brute practically snarled, and turned to Blaze, "and this wouldn't have happened if you allowed us to accompany you last night rather than those novices!"

"Brute, stow your tongue for once…" Blaze loudly interrupted him, "Right now… we do nothing, and bide our time," He toned his voice to a more soft explanatory manor; "In case you didn't realise, last night was also an action to prove that Tyran and his grey foxes _do not_ have dominion over us… but I can assure you… we _will_ take back what is ours… one way, or another,"

Brute and Hunter nodded while the fourth blue fox present still stayed silent. Trip had his head down, almost in a sort of sulk and hadn't said a word. Blaze had noticed, and decided to comment on it… he could tell there was something on his cousins mind;

"Trip... you haven't said a word since you came in…"

Trip then did look at Blaze, after a long pause and a glance to the other two foxes, he spoke;

"If I may speak freely… without persecution?"

"Go on,"

"Blaze… if I'm honest… I don't know what you hope to accomplish with all this," Trip spoke genuinely, "I know of course it's to take back our old territory… but at what cost? Plus…." He almost toned his voice to a whisper, "Everything was fine before we met these grey foxes… I don't trust them,"

"I don't trust them either Trip, but my decision still stands,"

"And I respect that… but," Trip paused, "I want you to respect the fact that I don't want anything to do with this war,"

"Fine… I'm not going to force you into doing anything," Blaze acknowledged, after quite a long pause; "Leave now, all of you. I'm going to sleep,"

Trip, Brute and Hunter promptly left, leaving Blaze to rest. As he did lie down to go to sleep, Blaze thought deeply about the conversation he had just had. It was clear, even between his friends, how conflicted his followers were over this new war.

Blaze had taken Trip's words to heart; he wouldn't have said it to him, but Blaze did regard Trip as the wiser of the two of them. Trip was right… at what cost would it be? He had no idea, and thus was so unsure whether pursuing the war further was a good idea. Whether Blaze liked it or not, he wasn't as cold hearted as everyone thought… he definitely wasn't as cold hearted as his father was. But on the other paw… there was the side of him that _did_ want revenge and bloodshed, as much as his friend Brute did… the side that was fuelled by anger and longed for retribution.

As conflicted as he was, Blaze did finally allow his mind to cease thinking so he could sleep. He knew though, even though it had only began last night, Blaze would have to make his decision eventually… whether to continue down the bloody path of revenge, or change paths to one of forgiveness.

* * *

They might have all been friends with Blaze… that didn't mean they were friends with each other; While Hunter was on good terms with all of them, Trip and Brute were not friends… they were the farthest thing from it.

Although Blaze found no problem with Trip holding to his pacifism, Brute found it insulting that Trip would refuse to play any part in the war, seeing Trip's pacifism as weakness and cowardice. It wasn't long after leaving Blaze's earth that an ensuing argument began…

"Puh… no balls," Brute mocked, directly to Trip who had been walking in front of him.

"Excuse me?" Trip turned around.

"Urgh… let's not do this," Hunter moaned, not that Brute or Trip took notice of what he said.

"You heard me," Brute mouthed to Trip, "Refusing to fight for our cause,"

"I'll fight when I have a good reason too," Trip defended.

"And why is taking back what's ours not a good enough reason? … You were here too when they drove us out!" Brute raised his voice.

"We were never driven out! We left on our own accord… even Blaze knows that!" Trip argued, "So personally I don't see the point of all this bloodshed,"

"Ha! It's only because you're weak… you're too afraid to fight!"

"Oh I'll show you how afraid I am!"

The scuffle had caught some attention from other foxes around, one particular was one of the blue vixen's, who came rushing over to the scene of the imminent fight. It was Skye; Trip's mate, and also Hunter's sister. She came in a hurry, coming to a stop next to Hunter, who was refusing to make any move to stop the spat.

"Hunter what's going on?" Skye asked him.

"What do you think? Brute's trying to provoke Trip again…" Hunter said, quite derogatively.

The argument meanwhile had continued, and Skye knew it was time to step in when hearing Brute's last insult:

"Call yourself a fox… pfft!" Brute mocked, "You can't even get your mate pregnant,"

With that insult, Skye knew Trip was about to snap. He snarled fiercely, but before he could launch himself at Brute, Skye suddenly rushed to stand in his way, making a very harsh glance at Brute.

"Come on Trip, let's just go…" She said to him calmly.

Trip obliged, beginning to turn away, although he was still fuming.

"Heh… yea that's what I thought!" Brute continued to mock, "So weak you have to get your mate to stand up for you!"

"Brute just shut up," Skye said to him nastily.

"Aww, what's the matter, did I make him cry?" Brute responded sarcastically, "HA! … and I suppose you don't believe in the cause either, do you Skye?"

"To care about it is beyond me," Skye said, turning away.

"Oh I bet it is…"

As Skye turned away, Brute came up behind her and playfully bit her tail, making her gasp.

"Back off Brute!" Trip growled, coming to Skye's defence.

"Trip its ok… I can handle him," Skye said to him.

"Oh… I'm sure you can," Brute said, almost lustfully, "What you need… is a real fox,"

Trip growled again, but Skye cut him off.

"Trip… Trust me…" she muttered, giving him a sly wink.

She turned to look at Brute and began walking around him, flirtily, using her tail to wisp across him… so as to distract and entice him.

"Perhaps you're right Brute… maybe I need a change…" she said longingly.

As she continued to circle him, she examined the floor around them; she had noticed a large stick seesawed by another on the ground. She came to Brute's front, and proceeded to seduce him into walking backwards.

"… A strong, brave fox… with some muscle…" Skye continued to flirt, and push Brute backwards, until he was positioned perfectly over the teetering stick, "… One who can, protect me, love me, lust for me…"

"Really now?" Brute said eagerly, "You'd be disloyal to your mate, right in front of him…"

"Oh don't worry… I can show you…" She leaned in to whisper right into Brute's ear, "… just how loyal I can be,"

Now satisfied… Skye slammed her paw down on the stick, the other end of it lifting to whack straight into Brute's groin.

"OOOFFH!" Brute practically howled, before falling right to the ground.

Trip, Skye and Hunter too, as well as some other foxes that had been observing the fracas, all burst into laughter as Brute rolled on the ground… seething in pain.

"Bitch!" he shouted to Skye.

"Vixen actually… I'm not a dog," she responded, as if teaching him a lesson.

She and Trip then proceeded to leave, both sauntering away, still laughing out loud. Hunter had to compose himself before he could even speak. He walked over to Brute, still shaking on the floor groaning.

"Come on… get up you idiot," Hunter said jokily.

"You can stop laughing too!" Brute winced as he got shakily up to his feet.

"Hey… she got you pretty good," Hunter summarised, "Plus she is my sister… and Trip is my brother-in-law, and I told you before I'm not taking any side in this bit between you and him,"

"Yea, yea… whatever… I remember,"

"Do you need some ice or something?"

"Yea… that would be good,"

"Well too bad its summer then isn't it!?" Hunter laughed, only to get another begrudging look from Brute, "You'll have to make do with water…"

"Right…" Brute exasperated, "Where the hell is that lake at?"

* * *

Trip and Skye were still walking through the undergrowth of the woods, not particularly going anywhere. Skye was feeling predominantly jolly after her successful takedown on Brute, so she was, more or less, skipping through the forest rather than walking. Trip though was still a bit shaken and despite the laughter, he was still angry from the argument.

"Told you I could handle him myself," Skye said cheerily.

"Well… you certainly did," Trip agreed, continuing after a long pause, "He just makes me so angry sometimes…"

"Don't let him get to you, he's not worth it," Skye reassured him.

"I know dear… but, he is right," Trip sighed, holding his head down shamefully, "You deserve better than me,"

"Don't be stupid Trip," Skye came over to face him, "I chose you to be my mate because I love you,"

"Even if I can't give you a family?"

"Who's to say you're the problem? … It might be me you know,"

"You can't be the problem Skye… You're perfect," Trip smiled.

"Trip…" Skye said admirably as she blushed, and then nuzzled him.

It was an affectionate nuzzle, as theirs always was: a firm expression of love and companionship. Trip and Skye had been mates since their first ever spring… but even then and every following spring they had never had cubs… despite trying time and time again. Trip saw much ridicule over it, as did Skye, but far less than he did, so it had become quite a sour subject in his mind. But he always had her, and she had him… and that was all that mattered.

* * *

It had now been a whole day since the attack during the night, and despite the apparent danger, it still wasn't enough to stop Roamer from venturing throughout the park. Raven accompanied him too. Ever since their first meeting they had basically become inseparable; and the best of friends.

Raven by now was just as much a Farthing fox as any of the others. It hadn't taken her long to pluck up the courage to meet Roamer's family and friends, and they had welcomed her kindly. Because of this, Raven felt as if she was indebted to Roamer… having, without barely knowing her, taken her in, befriended her, shown her a new home and a wonderful community and lifestyle to live with. Roamer of course, thought nothing of it; to be caring and kind hearted was in his nature, it was how he had grown up, and so it was how he intended to live his life.

Rushing across the downlands were both the Blue and Black fox. The downlands were part of the assigned Neutral Zone of the park as was the woods that had been acquired on the far side. That was Roamer's destination in mind, as it was his favourite place to go exploring. The terrain was much more varied and there were several levels of land sectioned off with cliff faces which followed the river rapids that then cut through to the north of the park boundary. There was even several small cave system, one of which was home to a family of quite friendly red foxes; the same family of which Rusty had found his, now deceased, mate; and as such, Rusty knew this part of the park well.

Upon arriving Roamer and Raven didn't waste any time exploring, although it wasn't long before they actually ran into Rusty. He had his back to them, and was just calmly sat up beside a tree staring into a clearing in the wood. Rusty had been worryingly elusive the last few weeks, so it was a nice surprise to see him, and he seemed well too.

"Hey Rusty!" Roamer greeted him, "Didn't expect to see you here… How have you been?"

"Better… until I came here," Rusty said quite bitterly.

"Oh…" Roamer felt a little insulted, "… Well we can leave you alon-"

"No… take a look…" Rusty interrupted, and then gestured to what he was looking at.

Roamer and Raven obliged, and casually walked to join Rusty. They almost had to suppress throwing up when they saw what was in the clearing. There were two dead red foxes… although, butchered, was a more appropriate way to describe it. There had clearly been a struggle as there were several sets of paw prints on the ground as well as patches of blood stained grass and dirt; but it was clear the two foxes had been overpowered and killed. One was older and the other younger, the same age as the three of them, but both of them had many cuts and abrasions, and their throats had been practically torn out.

"Oh my-" Raven uttered out of shock.

"Is it?" Roamer began to ask.

"Yea… Shay's father… and her brother," Rusty answered, (Shay being his departed mate).

Rusty then stood up and proceeded to examine the area.

"Did you know them?" Raven whispered to Roamer.

"Rusty, knew them better… I'd only met them briefly, exchanged a few words… nothing more," Roamer explained, still in surprise, "I just can't believe… they never did anything to anyone,"

"But… Who could have done this?"

"The grey foxes and other blue foxes I'd suspect… from what I've heard about them I'd bet anything," Rusty answered, having overheard their conversation, "Plus, I've already looked around… there's bits of grey fur all over the place too…" he then looked down to the ground at the several sets of paw prints, "… And these tracks go back to their own territory,"

"Just, mindless killing of our own kind… it's horrible," Raven muttered.

As Roamer walked around, he noticed the fox their age, his eyes where still partially open… and just, lifeless. With respect, he placed his right paw over to close them.

"What about her Mother and Sister?" He asked Rusty.

"I don't know… and I hate to think…" Rusty answered, "They didn't deserve any of this…"

Rusty dug his claws into the ground to try and suppress his anger, looking in the direction the paw tracks were going.

"What should we do?" Roamer asked Rusty.

"We have to go tell Plucky… he needs to know this…"

* * *

In the confines of Farthing Land, almost everyone had now heard of the attack two nights ago, and those who didn't soon found out when Plucky had called a meeting for everyone living on Farthing Land. It was outside Fox and Vixen's earth rather than his own though, as Fox was unable to go journeying far after sustaining his injuries. Plucky had explained already the new boundaries in the previous meeting over a week ago… now, it was to tell everyone of Tyran's ultimatum, and how everything was about to change.

The gathering was already in progress, and Plucky had already explained the seriousness of the situation; now everyone present had begun discussing, arguing or exchanging worried comments between each other while others had conversations of their own, quite loudly too. It was the smaller animals that panicked and protested the most, the rabbits particularly more than others.

"Can everyone please just settle down!" Plucky shouted attempting to silence everyone.

"Settle down! How are we supposed to settle down!?" Exclaimed one of the rabbits, clearly worried.

"What are we going to do? … What are we going to do!?"

"Don't panic!"

"There is no reason to panic-" Plucky again tried to control the situation.

"It's easy for you to say! You're not your own natural prey are yo-"

The rabbit had been cut off from speaking when Dash came up behind him and abruptly clasped her paw on his mouth to shut him up. Dash gave an encouraging look to Plucky as he silently mouthed a thank you to her. It silenced the one rabbit, but everyone was still muttering and few were still shouting… until:

"QUIET!" Fox suddenly bellowed, clearly in sort of frustration. Immediately, everyone fell silent. The old fox turned to Plucky, allowing him to speak.

"Look, there is no reason to panic," Plucky began calmly, "But this situation _is_ as serious as it sounds and everyone should be cautious… panicking… is the last thing we should do…"

This was met with a flurry of mutters and disgruntled comments from the entire audience.

"Can we not tell Laird?" Friendly proposed to Plucky, "I'm sure he would sort something out to stop this…"

"Laird won't help us… he's the one who let those other foxes in the park in the first place," Plucky explained, quite forcefully.

"Perhaps Tyran may listen to reason?" Hurkle cut in, "I'm sure he's a kind fello-"

Shadow cut him off with quite a sharp nudge, as she could see Plucky was practically scowling at Hurkle for proposing his ( _very_ ) ridiculous notion.

Hurkle turned to Shadow, "Rude… that was rude,"

"If the situation is that serious… What are our options?" Shadow asked out to anyone.

"Owl, you usually have some words of wisdom to offer; do you have any?" Charmer leaned up to ask the bird, who was perching on a low hanging branch.

"It's difficult to say…" Owl began, "Having not seen nor met these new adversaries of ours… and if what Rusty, Roamer and Raven have told us is true-"

"It _is_ true Owl," Rusty forcefully interrupted, "We saw it all with our own eyes,"

"My apologies…" Owl continued, "But, if they are killing other foxes in the park… clearly our enemy has no qualms of including others who have anything to do with us… whatever his motives are,"

"And I think it should be fairly obvious… if it comes to a conflict… it's you foxes, that will be doing most the fighting," Hollow added on, perched next to Owl.

"But if this is to continue… they'll soon outnumber us," Russet said restlessly.

"We're outnumbered anyway," Plucky explained, "We just need to be sure we aren't outmatched,"

"Think we proved that two nights ago well enough," Scarlet murmured to herself.

"Plucky, you make it sound like there's going to be a battle-" Vixen said worriedly.

"Maybe, but I'm not saying there won't be one either," Plucky replied.

"This is stupid… why shouldn't we leave if that's where we'll be safest?" Weasel suddenly piped up, "It's not _that_ bad out there!"

"Yes, we should leave… we should!" one of the rabbits burst out.

"That's not an option!" Plucky explained assertively, "…the outside world is dangerous enough as it is; my scars showcase that well enough,"

"It's true," Fox now spoke out, "A lot of you here don't know of the dangers outside the Reserve unlike us elders… and I'm sure several others here know what it's like out there too,"

"White Deer Park has been our home for years… and we won't just leave it when things get too rough!" Plucky continued assertively again.

"But!" several of the animals present began to protest simultaneously.

"Did we leave when the rats invaded?" Plucky enlightened them, "Even before I was born, did you all leave during the last feud against Scarface? …" Plucky paused, allowing his point to sink in. There was a number of both convinced and sceptical faces looking back at him or deep in thought; "… We all fought them off before didn't we? We will fight them off again,"

"This is different Plucky…" Ranger, being one of the sceptical ones, spoke out, "… An army of rats is meagre compared to an army of foxes. Most of us here wouldn't last a second…"

Plucky knew of course, Ranger was right, but it wasn't particularly helpful in keeping everyone motivated or calm… so Plucky challenged him:

"Then what do you propose we do about it?"

"I don't know," Ranger responded, "I'm not saying we should leave… I'm not saying we should stay and fight either… I'm certainly not saying we should surrender," he paused and sighed, "… But… As if my brother being here vowing for revenge wasn't bad enough… This, Tyran… whoever he is… from what you've told us Plucky… he'll kill us all when he gets the chance-"

"No…" one of the other voices present suddenly interrupted, "That's _not_ what he wants,"

Everyone's attention quickly turned to who had spoken up. Their eyes landed upon Scarlet's brother; Rebel. He had stepped forward, but his head was held down, as if he was unsure about his speaking up.

"Rebel… if you have any worthwhile information about our enemy, then please, share it," Plucky expressed.

Rebel raised his head, "Tyran might want us all dead, yes… But not yet…" he explained looking around carefully, noticing that everyone's eyes were on him; he continued: "Like he did to me when he gouged out my eye… he wants us to suffer first, and continue suffering… physically, mentally… either way. Only then will he kill us,"

"Suffer how?" Plucky asked.

"I don't know,"

"Just spit it out already!" the rabbit that Dash had previously retrained shouted out.

"… Pick us off… slowly… one by one," Rebel said quite morbidly, "Tyran may appear to be a fighter, but he's not… he's worse. He's a strategist, manipulates others to do his work for him… and probably what's worse; … he's patient. He won't care how long this conquest will take until it's done," Rebel paused a moment, everyone was still hanging on his every word. He continued;

"And these other killings… he's likely trying to build up his support across the park by force… and those other foxes are most likely being forcefully conscripted and not joining him willingly… and those that resist… well… I don't really need to say much else,"

He had said all he needed to say. Silence fell amongst the meeting… so quiet that the only thing that could be heard was the rustling of leaves from the calm early summer breeze. Someone did eventually break the silence;

"Oo-err… this is a right kerfuffle isn't it matey's?" Toad spoke up unsurely.

"That's putting it moderately blithe, Toad," Owl commented sardonically.

"Oh, it's just awful!" Mossy said what everyone was thinking.

During the silence, Plucky looked around at all the morbid faces of everyone present… he couldn't let them down. He soon decided to speak up himself.

"I think… some new rules might need to be implemented for now…"

Everyone looked to him, as the leader he took immediate charge, and everyone listened to his word.

"From now on, no one leaves Farthing Land without telling someone else first, and no one travels into the Neutral Zone alone; that includes when all we foxes and other predators go out hunting. Go in a group… never alone, and catch more share than your own… most likely we'll have to pool our findings… We'll also set up watches and patrols for the day and night to guard the border… any grey fox you see or any blue fox that isn't one of you here, you treat as a threat,"

As he looked round, Plucky could see his new rules were being received by a number of discontented faces, but nobody spoke up.

"I don't want to sound like I'm enforcing curfews here, but this is for the good of everyone," Plucky continued, "This a matter between us foxes and not the rest of you animals… but that doesn't mean you won't be targeted, it doesn't mean you're safe…"

Some of the animals began muttering between themselves at this statement, the tone of which, was clearly negative.

"I know what some of you are thinking… whether or not I'll be able to protect you all-"

"You won't have to do it alone Plucky," Pace called out encouragingly.

"We are all bound by the Oath here… and that means we all stick together, every one of us," Charmer educated.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Fox smiled, cheerful that even through the seriousness of the situation, his family hadn't lost their sense of comradery.

"That is very true," Plucky thoroughly agreed, but then continued fearlessly, "Nevertheless, if it comes to it… I would sooner sacrifice myself then let anyone here get hurt or worse…"

What Plucky didn't see as he said that was the look of worry Scarlet gave him, it was also shared by Dash and Whisper particularly, as well as others… but Plucky continued regardless;

"… However, the situation as it stands… I hate to say it," Plucky paused as he composed himself to say it;

"We, are at _war_ …"

* * *

It wasn't long before the meeting ended, and all the animals went their separate ways as the sun began to turn the sky the classic shade of orange as it began to set. Before leaving, a schedule of who was on watch and patrol had been set up for the day and night. It was mostly the foxes who were taking the role, but several others had volunteered to help too.

As everyone began to depart, Rebel hung back as he needed to enlighten something to Plucky. He waited until Plucky was about to leave with Scarlet and his cubs to go home when he came up to speak to him.

"Plucky, can I talk to you alone for a sec?" Rebel asked.

"Yea, sure," Plucky replied after a short pause.

He gestured for Scarlet to carry on home with the cubs as he stayed behind. Plucky and Rebel then went to find a private place to talk, soon finding it amongst a thick assortment of shrubbery.

"What is it Rebel? Is this important?" Plucky asked.

"Somewhat… I didn't want to say this during the meeting because…" Rebel sighed, "… Plucky… I don't want to put you at ill ease here… but you _must_ be careful," Rebel spoke genuinely, "For some reason, Tyran has singled you out as his nemesis, so-"

"I know, don't worry," Plucky said confidently, "I can handle myself if it comes to it-"

"That not what I'm trying to say at all…" Rebel interrupted, the tone of his voice sincere, Plucky listened carefully, "… I said Tyran wants to make us suffer… specifically, he'll want to make _you_ suffer…"

"Rebel… What are you saying?" Plucky asked worriedly.

Rebel soon answered him; "He's not going to come after _you_ … he'll go after everyone you love…"

 **End of Act 1**

* * *

 **Unfortunately… that's all I've got for now. Don't worry that doesn't mean I'm giving up on this story, it just means any of you readers will be waiting a while for the next chapter or act, depending how I decide to upload it all. This is a story I WILL finish, because I WANT to finish it :)**

 **If there any questions about anything in the story, do please ask them, just in a review or a pm is fine and I'll do my best to answer them. Also, a VERY BIG THANKYOU to everyone who has read and reviewed… even if I don't reply to a review, I can assure you they are greatly appreciated :)**


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